Football beanbag toss, spin the wheel, paddle ball with
balloons, and Nerf darts were all part of our school day today. I thought it
would be fun to finish our first week of school with a carnival theme after
Pamela read a fun, quick story, “Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Carnival
Prize”. We used the book as an example of the elements of a mystery story
during our writing workshop. Then the kids aimed their Nerf dart guns at cards
with words like “alibi”, “interrogate”, and “hunch” to reinforce the mystery
vocabulary.
The theme also conjures images of popcorn, ice
cream, fried food and cotton candy, as crazy carnival creations are often stars
of the outdoor fun fests. While those foods are not safe for my 12-year-old son
Joseph to eat, we still enjoy seeing what carnival cooks come up with and use
those dishes as inspiration to make our own allergy-friendly treats. For
example, the Food Network show
“Carnival
Cravings with Anthony Anderson”, brings us to carnivals around the country,
including one in our former home state of North Carolina, to see the wacky
combinations that take flavors and deep-fried concoctions to new levels. But
when we lived in the South, we avoided the fairs at which nuts seemed
ubiquitous, making the events unsafe and certainly not fun for Joseph. He is
allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, milk, egg, soy, sesame, mustard,
watermelon, strawberry and cantaloupe, along with having asthma.
As I look back on the summer during this holiday weekend, I
am reminded of a night our family spent enjoying the local firefighters parade
and carnival. Our focus was on fun, rather than food, whether trying to win a
prize or getting a thrill from a ride. A big bonus, which allowed us to soak up the atmosphere, was the lack of peanuts boiling and crushed nut shells all over
the place. Joseph could play traditional carnival games, such as shooting a
water gun to make his character race to the top the fastest, and throwing darts to
pop balloons. He even let his little sister talk him into spinning around in a
big, silly dragon. Sure, we went through a bunch of wipes to ensure remnants of
melted ice cream or other allergens didn’t affect Joseph, and as always he had
his Auvi-Q epinephrine auto-injector and inhaler in case of emergency. But as
we walked home, arms full of stuffed prizes, spotting fireflies flittering
through the dark sky, we all carried memories of a fun night experiencing a
summer tradition.
We did include fun food for the mini carnival in our homeschool. We made dairy-free
vanilla ice cream and allergy friendly
apple
fritters using a recipe from the
Food Network’s
Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, just using substitutes for the ingredients to
make them allergy safe. It was a yummy way to finish the first week of school,
plus we enjoyed whetting our appetites for the fall flavors on the horizon.
Football beanbag toss, spin the wheel, paddle ball with
balloons, and Nerf darts were all part of our school day today. I thought it
would be fun to finish our first week of school with a carnival theme after
Pamela read a fun, quick story, “Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Carnival
Prize”. We used the book as an example of the elements of a mystery story
during our writing workshop. Then the kids aimed their Nerf dart guns at cards
with words like “alibi”, “interrogate”, and “hunch” to reinforce the mystery
vocabulary. 
The theme also conjures images of popcorn, ice
cream, fried food and cotton candy, as crazy carnival creations are often stars
of the outdoor fun fests. While those foods are not safe for my 12-year-old son
Joseph to eat, we still enjoy seeing what carnival cooks come up with and use
those dishes as inspiration to make our own allergy-friendly treats. For
example, the Food Network show “Carnival
Cravings with Anthony Anderson”, brings us to carnivals around the country,
including one in our former home state of North Carolina, to see the wacky
combinations that take flavors and deep-fried concoctions to new levels. But
when we lived in the South, we avoided the fairs at which nuts seemed
ubiquitous, making the events unsafe and certainly not fun for Joseph. He is
allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, milk, egg, soy, sesame, mustard,
watermelon, strawberry and cantaloupe, along with having asthma.
As I look back on the summer during this holiday weekend, I
am reminded of a night our family spent enjoying the local firefighters parade
and carnival. Our focus was on fun, rather than food, whether trying to win a
prize or getting a thrill from a ride. A big bonus, which allowed us to soak up the atmosphere, was the lack of peanuts boiling and crushed nut shells all over
the place. Joseph could play traditional carnival games, such as shooting a
water gun to make his character race to the top the fastest, and throwing darts to
pop balloons. He even let his little sister talk him into spinning around in a
big, silly dragon. Sure, we went through a bunch of wipes to ensure remnants of
melted ice cream or other allergens didn’t affect Joseph, and as always he had
his Auvi-Q epinephrine auto-injector and inhaler in case of emergency. But as
we walked home, arms full of stuffed prizes, spotting fireflies flittering
through the dark sky, we all carried memories of a fun night experiencing a
summer tradition.
We did include fun food for the mini carnival in our homeschool. We made dairy-free
vanilla ice cream and allergy friendly apple
fritters using a recipe from the Food Network’s
Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, just using substitutes for the ingredients to
make them allergy safe. It was a yummy way to finish the first week of school,
plus we enjoyed whetting our appetites for the fall flavors on the horizon. 
Great article, Wendy. Nothing like a summer carnival.
ReplyDelete