Sparkle Stories Blog
A home for Sparkle audio stories, crafts, recipes, and kind words!
Sparkle Kitchen: Cowboy Baked Beans
Not only do they have incredible flavor, with the no-soak method discussed below, you can make up a batch in an afternoon instead of having to remember to start the process the night before.
Sparkle Kitchen: Pickles
In tribute to forgiving Pickles for his transgressions — and in the spirit of being thankful for a good harvest, too — a recipe for quick, refrigerator pickles.
Martin & Sylvia's: Saturdays! Printable Project Page: Trail Art
In the Martin & Sylvia story “Trail Art,” Martin and Sylvia make little beautiful markers along a trail using sticks, leaves, bark and stones. In nature, art materials are everywhere! What can you create with things from the out-of-doors?
Outdoor Nature Art
The project this week is a special one – something that, like Martin, will fill you with the quiet excitement of a new project! We’re going out into the world and making our very own nature art.
Sparkle Kitchen: Open-Faced Sandwiches
Let's make some playful open-faced sandwiches, inspired by the At Home with Martin and Sylvia story "Faces."
Martin & Sylvia's: Saturdays! Printable Project Page: Flower Mural
You can use the flowers on this printable project page to make your own art: make copies, color, and cut and paste to make your own garden mural! Or design your own!
Sparkle Craft: Collaborative Chalk Mural
We’re going to show you how to make a chalk mural of your own, inspired by the Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story "Important to Us All."
Sparkle Kitchen: Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad
While strawberries make wonderful desserts and are a favorite for freezer jam, they can also be mixed into a salad for a more dinner-appropriate option. With a simple homemade vinaigrette dressing, this salad is also a cool treat for the first summer night that you don’t feel like turning on your oven.
Martin & Sylvia Saturdays! Printable Project Page: A Proper Uniform
In the Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story, “A Proper Uniform”, Martin and Sylvia are inspired to create their own “Explorers” uniforms, complete with badges. With this printable, you can join their Explorers team. You'll find Martin & Sylvia's badges. There are also two plain ones so you can create your own.
Sparkle Crafts: Crafting and Breathing
For me, crafting is a daily spiritual practice, much like yoga, heartfully preparing meals, and, well…breathing.
Superhero Smoothies
Let's make smoothies, inspired by the The Willowbee Tree story "What is No Longer Needed."
Sparkle Crafts: Simple Paper Kite
This project is great for producing a well-flying kite in 15 minutes or less.
Sparkle Kitchen: Crepes Suzette
It's a crepe recipe, to go with the At Home with Martin and Sylvia story "Eating Out," in which the family meets a lovely French family and experiences a "proper" French meal!
Sparkle Crafts: Children's Herb Garden
This week, Martin & Sylvia help Daddy build raised garden beds in the story “No Boo Boo Day,” working carefully to avoid getting injured. We plant an herb garden and show you how, every step of the way.
Imagination: Seeing Through the Eyes
David talks about the power of visual media and imagination.
Sparkle Kitchen: Mother's Day Egg Scramble
Every year I’d get up extra early to try to make my mom breakfast in bed. I’d even pick a little bouquet of flowers (hopefully not Mom’s prize roses) the night before, to make it extra special. And the meal? It was invariably scrambled eggs—at 8 or 9, it was the only breakfast recipe I knew how to make.
Sparkle Crafts: Lashing Sticks
Martin and Sylvia are inspired to create with sticks in this week’s At Home with Martin and Sylvia, from a fairy house to furniture to Momma’s lunch on a stick!
Sparkle Kitchen: Chicken Satay
In Southeast Asia, marinated meats are served on skewer sticks to make a dish called “satay." Satay was supposedly invented by street vendors in Indonesia as an imitation of the Indian kebabs brought to the area by migration in the early 19th century.
Sparkle Craft: Fairy Boat Show
We'll show you how to make a simple raft, inspired by the Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story, "The Spring Fairy Boat Show."
Sparkle Crafts: Go to Sleep Fairy Pillow
It seems Martin and my Oliver both need a “Go to Sleep” fairy this week. Unlike Sylvia, I didn’t find one, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve for encouraging restful sleep.
