Puzzle

How many squares are in this picture? (answer shown in next issue)

Joke

Why did the mermaid get kicked out of the chorus?

Because she couldn't keep a tuna!

This joke was taken from kidsjokes.com.

Recipe

Have a grownup help you if you don't know how to use an oven.

***Soft Pretzels***

2 - 16 oz. loaves frozen bread dough
1 egg white, slightly beat
1 teaspoon water
Coarse salt

*Soft Pretzels*
2 - 16 oz. loaves frozen bread dough 1 egg white, slightly beat 1 teaspoon water Coarse salt

Separate thawed bread into 24 - 1 1/2" balls. Roll each ball into a rope 14 1/2" long. You can even design new pretzel shapes (maybe letters or numbers). Put pretzels one inch apart on greased cookie sheet. Let stand for 20 minutes and brush with combined egg white and water. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Place a shallow pan containing 1" of boiling water on bottom rack of oven; bake pretzels at 350 degrees on rack above water for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

This great recipe was taken from The Rainy Day Resource Page

Magic Trick

The Cruise

Effect

With a good story line about a family on a cruise, cards helplessly mixed somehow sort themselves out.

Setup

Take out all the Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Ace's from a deck of cards. Separate them into four piles with each pile having the same suit. They must all be in the order Jack, Queen, King, Ace with the Ace as the top, face down card. Now collect the piles from left to right.

Secret and Presentation

The patter (words) of the story goes like this:

- "Once apon a time there were these four families, and all of them went on a cruise."

Point at the pile.

- "The cruise was pleasant, but then they met up with a storm. In this storm they were thrown left,"

Have the spectator cut a pile to the left and complete the cut,

- "and they were thrown right,"

Have the spectator cut a pile to the right and complete the cut,

- "and they were thrown forward,"

Have the spectator cut a pile forward and complete the cut,

- "suddenly the boat crashed! All the people were scattered out onto four different islands,"

Deal the first card to position #1, the second card to position #2, the third card to posision #3, the fourth card to posision #4, the fifth card to posision #1, and so on (see figure 1 below)

- "but, as you can see,"

Turn over first pile

- "all the (whatever the suit may be) were on one island,"

Turn over the second pile

- "all the (whatever the suit may be) were on another island"

And so on. This is a very good trick to begin your magical hobby. For best results, practice the words untill they are memorized.

This magic trick was taken from The Conjuring Cabaret, one of my favorite magic sites.

Craft

Personalized Magnets

Completion Time: 10-15 minutes

Materials Needed:

Step 1:

Whether you want one picture or several to create your personal magnet, this is an easy craft. Decide what you want to create first. Here is a photo collage. If you want yours to look this way, cut out each person then put them on the sticky side of a Craftmagic magnet and that's it!

Click here to see the magnet!

Step 2:

Cut out what you want from photos, trimming away the background by cutting around outline of figures, for instance, Santa and Junior.

Step 3:

Adhere to sticky side of magnet sheet.

Step 4:

Trim to desired size -- can leave as square shape or make unique shapes following outlines of photo cut-outs.

Step 5:

To further customize your magnets, you can write things or add artistic elements on them using puffy paint.

Step 6:

You can also take some colored sand and create a design on the sticky side of the magnet. Be creative -- but remember once you adhere something to the magnet it's permanent.

This craft and the picture are from http://www.azfamily.com/kids/crafts.

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