Kids Cook: Gooooaaaal! Brazilian Treats For the World Cup

The World Cup 2014 is just around the corner – it starts June 12 – and is being held in host country Brazil. Here at Little Pim, we’re excited to share our love of both the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture with our friends. To get you ready for some world class World Cup watching, we have two easy Brazilian recipes – one savory and one sweet – great for small hands to help create.

Vamos comer! (Let’s eat!)

Savory Treat: Pão de Queijo (cheese puffs)

Courtesy of Saveur

These savory cheese puffs are crisp on the outside, rich and chewy on the inside. They’re a popular treat in Brazil for an afternoon snack or pre-meal nibble –although we think they’re also perfect for watching Futebol (soccer)!

 INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ½ tsp. active dry yeast
• ¾ cup milk
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together tapioca starch, Parmesan, flour, salt, and yeast. Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until butter melts. Pour mixture into dry ingredients along with 1 egg and stir until dough forms; cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Kids cook:

1. Using a tablespoon, portion out dough and roll each into a ball. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets, spaced 2" apart; beat remaining egg in a small bowl and brush balls with egg.
2. Bake until browned, 25 to 30 minutes.

Makes 16

Sweet Treat: Brigadeiros (Chocolate fudge balls)

Courtesy of Saveur - world cup brigadeiros

These fudgy truffles are a favorite dessert throughout Brazil. We say “Gooooaaallll” for the easy recipe and yummy sprinkles on top.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. heavy cream
• 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 3 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 cup chocolate sprinkles

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring butter, cream, and milk to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add chocolate and cocoa powder, and reduce heat to low; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is the consistency of dense, fudgy batter, about 16 minutes.
3. Transfer to a bowl; let cool. Chill until set, at least 4 hours.

Kids Cook:

1. Using a tablespoon, portion out fudge and roll into balls. Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles until evenly coated.
2. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 2 dozen

All recipes courtesy of our friends at Saveur.

5 Sanity Saving Family Road Trip Tricks and Tips

Heading out of town for a sunny family road trip? You’re not alone; car travel is the most popular way for families to travel during the summer months. But it doesn’t mean it always easy.

Never fear, our family travel expert Melissa Klurman is here with tips and tricks to make your family road trip as smooth as your favorite roadside frozen custard.

Let’s hit the road!

1. Snack attack!

Nothing makes a trip fly by like special snacks. Make a road trip bento box for each child in your car using a plastic tackle box from the craft store – fill compartments with kid finger food faves such as goldfish, grapes, string cheese, and fruit snacks. Don’t forget water bottles and juice boxes to quench your thirsty back seat crew.

2. Art supplies on the fly

One of my favorite tips from my early travel writer days was to make a portable desk from a small plastic storage container – fill it with washable crayons and markers, stickers, and paper, then use the top as a “desk”. When I’m feeling lazy, I make do with a shoebox. Best part? Everything goes back in the box for easy craft cleanup.

3. Car games

My family plays endless (and I mean endless) rounds of “I Spy” and “20 Questions” both in the car and any time we stop for a meal break. To keep my sanity, I also stock up on magnetic travel games such as Travel Bingo to switch things up. Another great option for car and restaurant fun is Flashcard Speed Rounds (we flash a card and see who can get the answer first) – perfect for Little Pim’s 11 different language flashcard options (check out Spanish, here).

4. Cozy corners

One of the highlights of traveling by car with kids is being able to let them snuggle up with their favorite pillow and stuffed animals from home. Don't miss this opportunity for quiet car time -- turn the back seat into a nap friendly spot with fluffy toys, blankets, and pillows your kids love.

5. Electronic Back Up

Although we always try to stay unplugged for as long as possible to enjoy the scenery, for extended car trips, it’s often a relief for everyone to have a variety of entertainment options available. Preload your tablet or phone with kids friendly music, video, and game and app options so they're ready when you want them. And don’t forget to pack over–ear headphones if you need them for quiet viewing.

Buon Voyaggio!! Have a great trip!

Kid Culture Around the World: What’s New in Paris

Kids often wonder what children like them are doing around the world. So at Little Pim we’ve decided to help open a window to cultures both near and far for our little learners, allowing them to get a peak at their international counterparts while learning a bit more of their favorite language. First up: Paris, France.

Our blog team member Melissa Klurman is just back from Paris, the City of Light, and here’s what she spotted les enfants (children) doing there:

Eating Sunday lunch (Manger le dejeuner du dimanche)

Family time is très (very) important to French families.

Even when they’ve had a busy week, they schedule time for a long leisurely lunch en familie (with their family), usually at a bistro (a casual restaurant).

As you can see here, the reward for sitting patiently through frites and croque monsier (the French version of fries and grilled cheese)? Dessert!

Playing Dress Up (se déguiser)

What's more fun than dressing up at home? Doing it in a real castle! These costumes are ones you can borrow at the Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte outside of Paris. Kids can wear their fancy dress to visit all the rooms in the chateau and then learn to play games from the olden days (really old, we're talking 1600s) out in the beautiful gardens.

Swimming in the Pool (Nager dans la piscine)

As summer approaches, all thoughts turn to la piscine (the pool!).

Since French weather can stay a bit cool until August, indoor pools (such as this one at the Shangri La Hotel) often fill in for the outdoor version.

Playing games (Jouer des jeux)

Just like kids everywhere, French enfants love to play outside, biking, running, and playing games. Something new to catch their attention are  life-size game boards that line the Seine River in Paris like this giant maze.

Ancient Greece Meets Modern Pimsleur

Little Pim founder and CEO Julia Pimsleur writes home from Greece. As my plane landed in Athens for the Global Leadership conference hosted by the Entrepreneurs' Organization, I was thinking my father must have looked out this same kind of window 50 years ago. That is when my parents came to Athens to put to the test my father's home grown method for teaching adults with no prior foreign language experience to speak a new language. Today this would be called seeking "proof of concept" in the start-up world. Back then I am sure my father thought of it simply as seeking an answer that would make or break his future. He had a vision of creating a National Bank of Languages where anyone could learn a language in a short time for purposes of travel for business, government service abroad or for personal pleasure. In the wake of Sputnik, the United States was taking another look at why Americans were behind in the world in a number of areas, including foreign language acquisition, and they thought my dad, known as Dr. Pimsleur, was the right guy for the job.

Armed with a modest grant from the U.S. Government Department of Health, Education and Welfare, my parents left for Greece to prove that with the right method, anyone could learn to speak a foreign language, even a difficult one like Greek. Though this was a clearly entrepreneurial endeavor, Dr. Pimsleur surely thought of himself more as an academic on a mission. His challenge in Greece was simple and yet incredibly hard: get people to speak conversational simple Greek in a few weeks. In those pre- app, pre-software pre-online learning days, this had never been done. If you wanted to learn a language you had to take a course either at a private institution or university and slog through hours of grammar lessons, repetition and often not getting around to conversation for months.

My father wanted to offer an alternative way of learning that would change the field forever. To prove his method worked, my father (with a lot of help form my mother) recruited 27 Americans and Brits who lived in Greece and wanted to learn Greek. They put an ad in the local English language newspaper offering a free experimental program in  Greek.  A mix of people turned up - students,  military wives,  an English teacher and some ex pats who claimed they had tried all means but could not master the language.They ran the program for three  months and out of the original number only 2 dropped out.

In order to write the program, my dad, with help from the students in the program, tried to target the most useful utterances that one needed to know arriving in a foreign country. The idea was that you should be able to start conversing from the very first lesson. These interactive dialogues were recorded on a reel to reel tape recorder, with my father relying on his "native speaker", a Greek teacher, who provided him with the Greek language. My dad was the "Teacher on the Tape" (which later became the Pimsleur Method's first tag line!). The participants repeated these words and phrases into a Wollensak tape recorder in 20-30 minute sessions every day. My mother's job was to run the lab in a small un-air conditioned room in a downtown Athens, listen to the recordings and mark the places where students were unable to respond correctly.  This was done on lined yellow legal pads which quickly piled up in stacks around their apartment. At night they went over the responses of the lesson of the day to see what parts of the program had to be tweaked-a tedious and work intense endeavor. The next day my dad rewrote what was necessary to insure that students could respond correctly to 80% of every lesson, and those lessons were re-recorded.

That became the basis of the "gradual interval recall method" otherwise known as the secret sauce of the Pimsleur method. They also conferred with the students who helped them understand their language needs.  My parents used their own experiences as visitors to a foreign country to help decide what was the most useful and practical vocabulary to include in the programs. And then their adults started doing something amazing that kids do so naturally but adults often find nearly paralyzing in a new language: they spoke! They got comfortable and conversational even faster even than my father hoped. My mom remembers that when whey packed up shop, the students gave them a big party, wishing them luck and encouraging them to quickly go do the same for other languages!

So they went back to Ohio and founded their own company with my father as president and my mother as vice-president and started selling the program. My mother designed the first packages with a blue Greek motif and kept the stock in the basement next to the washer and dryer, wrapping up orders while drying diapers belonging to my older brother. The business was up and running, albeit to a very small market. Eventually my father invested his own money to create similar programs in French, Spanish and German.  He was even asked to go to Ghana to teach the Peace Corps volunteers Twi, an African language. The Head of the Peace Corps, a friend of my parents, had been one of the first people to try out the Greek program. Five years later, when he saw that the recruits to Ghana, even though had gone through a program to learn Twi in the US, couldn't get along in even the simplest conversation, he thought of Dr Pimsleur. He still remembered "Catalavenate Hellenika" and some of the Greek he had learned from those very first tapes. He was convinced this was the most effective way to train his volunteers, so off our family went to Ghana to help get a language lab up and running for peace corps volunteers (by then I was on the scene).

My father didn’t live to see his method become the multinational business success it is today, marketed by Simon & Schuster Publishing. The Pimsleur Method is distributed digitally all over the world and exists in over 50 languages including Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Cantonese and Albanian. I can only imagine my father would be delighted that half a century after he first landed in Athens with his Wollensak tape recorder that he would find his daughter attending a gathering of 1,000 leading entrepreneurs in the place where he first scratched his own entrepreneurial itch and set out to prove something he believed in so passionately could be done, and done well.

Greece is known for being where Western Civilization started, but to me it is first and foremost where our family business started. I couldn’t help but feel my father was hovering as I moved through the conference representing my own entrepreneurial dream come true, Little Pim, which enables young children to learn their first second or third language. On my first day at the conference an entrepreneur pointed at my name tag with a huge smile and asked, "Are you Pimsleur like the Pimsleur language courses?! I love those! I have used them in three languages, they really work." I’d like to think that my father heard him, too. Efharisto, dad. Milao ligo Hellenika*. I learned that from the Pimsleur Greek program.

* means "Thank You" and "I speak a little Greek"

How Kids Say “Happy Mother's Day!” Around the World

We love our moms so much here at Little Pim that we wanted to find the most ways we could to tell them. We think we did a good job with our “I Love” “Mom” “Happy Mother’s Day” language guides, below. Pick a phrase or word and language and have your kids print them (help if you need to)  along with their handprint or hand outline on heavy cardstock to create a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day Card.

We bet mom will say a big Gracias, Merci,Xièxiè, Grazie, Danke, Arigatō, Shukran, Toda, Spasibo, Obrigado! (THANK YOU!)

Mother's Day Language Guide

Happy Mother's Day!

Spanish

--  ¡feliz Día de la madre!

French

-- Joyeuse Fête des Mères!

Chinese

-- Mǔqīn jié kuàilè!

Italian

-- Buona festa della mama!

German

-- Alles Gute zum Muttertag!

Japanese

-- Haha no hi omedetō!

Arabic

-- Sʻyd ʼMhāt al-Ywm

Hebrew

-- Yom ha-em same'ach!

Russian

-- S dnyom Materi!

Portuguese

-- Feliz dia das mães!

Mom

Spanish

-- Mamá

French 

-- Maman

Chinese 

-- Māma

Italian

-- Mamma

German

-- Mama

Japanese

-- Mama

Arabic

-- Oum / Mama

Hebrew

-- Ima

Russian

-- Mamoo

Portuguese

-- Mamãe

I love you!

Spanish

-- ¡Te amo!

French

-- Je t'aime!

Chinese

-- Wǒ ài nǐ

Italian

-- Ti amo!

German

-- Ich liebe dich

Japanese

-- Aishite iru

Arabic

-- Ana behibek (to female)

Hebrew

-- “Ani Ohev Otach” (man to woman) / “Ani Ohev Otcha” (man to man) / “Ani Ohevet Otcha” (woman to man) / “Ani Ohevet Otach” (woman to woman)

Russian

-- Ya tebya lyublyu

Portuguese

-- Eu te amo

Cook Up a Fiesta for Cinco De Mayo

Uno, dos, tres, quatro, CINCO!

The fifth day of the fifth month is more than just May 5, it's also the festive Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.

The holiday commemorates the Battle of Pueblo, where a small band of Mexican soliders pushed back advancing French forces in 1862.

(Interesting fact: This is not Mexican Independence Day, that’s celebrated September 16).

Today, the holiday has become a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, especially for Mexicans living abroad and in the United States. If you live near a major city, you can probably find a Cinco de Mayo fiesta (party) featuring mariachi bands and lots of traditional foods.

But no need to leave the comforts of your kitchen. You can create your own fiesta of dips and chips, perfect for little hands to help create, with our easy recipes below. We think they'll make your whole family say: "Mmm, Cinco de Mayo qué bueno está!" (Mmm, Cinco de Mayo is yummy!)

Fiesta Dips for Cinco de Mayo

(recipes courtesy of Saveur)

These dips are both creamy and rich and perfect for dipping tortilla chips, either blue or yellow. But try cutting up some jicama, a crunchy white tuber found throughout Latin America, or carrots and celery for colorful (and nutritious) dipping options.

Guacamole*

Don’t have a mortar and pestle? Don’t’ worry, we used a big spoon and sturdy bowl and got great results.

• 2 tbsp. finely chopped white onion
• 3 firmly packed tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp. finely chopped jalapeño
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 medium-ripe hass avocados
• 3 tbsp. diced tomato

1. Grind 1 tbsp. of the onions, 1 tbsp. of  the cilantro, jalapeño, and salt together in a molcajete (mortar and pestle) until all the ingredients are well ground. (Alternatively, use a fork to mash the ingredients to a paste in a wide bowl.)

2. Cut avocados in half. Twist the halves to separate them and remove the pit with the tip of the knife. Place an avocado half, cut side up, in your palm and make 3 or 4 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts through its flesh down to the skin, without cutting through the skin. Make 4 crosswise cuts in the same fashion.

3. Scoop the diced avocado flesh into the molcajete or bowl. Repeat with remaining avocado halves. Gently fold the avocado into the chile–onion paste, keeping the avocado pieces fairly intact.

4. Add tomatoes, remaining 2 tbsp. of the cilantro, and remaining 1 tbsp. of the onions.

5. Fold together all the ingredients. Taste and add salt, if necessary.

6. Serve immediately, directly from the molcajete (or bowl), with tortilla chips.

Chile and Cheese Dip *

Even our friends at Saveur couldn’t’ find a substitute for the easy melting Velveeta in this classic American-Mexican dip; a perfect dish for this festive holiday.

• 1  10-oz. can diced tomatoes and green chiles
• (preferably Ro*Tel brand)
• 2 tbsp. lager-style beer (such as Corona), chicken broth, or white grape juice
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1⁄2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 lb. Velveeta cheese, diced
• 1⁄4 cup grated aged monterey jack cheese
• 1⁄4 cup sliced scallions
• 1⁄4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1⁄2 lime
• Tortilla chips

1. In a 2-qt. saucepan, stir together diced tomatoes and green chiles, beer, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and garlic. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

2. Add Velveeta and whisk until melted. Transfer dip to a serving bowl and top with monterey jack cheese, scallions, cilantro, tomatoes, and jalapeños. Squeeze the juice of lime over the top. Serve with tortilla chips.

*Note: you may want to cut down, or leave out, the jalapeno in these recipes if your kids aren’t’ used to spicy foods.

Share Your Little Pim Stories

As your kids grow up with Little Pim, your stories are our greatest joys, and our greatest successes. Now, we want to say thank you. Share your Little Pim stories with us this month and you'll be featured on our beautiful new Stories page. You also might win a $75 gift certificate. Entering is simple:

1. Pick your favorite social media platform: Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. 2. Post a status, tweet, photo, or video that completes the sentence: My family uses Little Pim because...3. Add the hashtag #ILoveLittlePim. 4. Like/follow Little Pim.

And that’s it. We’ll pick out our favorite Little Pim stories and select a winner at the end of the month. In the meantime, join the conversation on the Stories page of our website!

Entries accepted through 5/31/14. For official contest rules click here.

#SmartSpring Twitter Party - You're Invited!

Join us at our #SmartSpringTwitter Party to talk with our panel of moms and experts about eco-friendly family fun and creating world-opening experiences for your little ones!

DATE: Tuesday, April 29th TIME: 9pm EST HASHTAG: #SmartSpring PRIZES: A Trio Android tablet and Little Pim products galore!

RSVP to the Twitter Party by filling out this simple form.*

Make sure to follow us @LittlePim, our host Allison McDonald @Noflashcards, and our fantastic panelists @teachmama and @pragmaticmom.

And while you're at it, be sure to follow our #SmartSpring Pinterest board for educational and eco-friendly activities you can share with your kids this Spring.

See you there!

*RSVP on or before 4/28/14 at 11:59pm EST to receive an exclusive discount code to use during and after the party.

Join Little Pim's Virtual Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter egg hunts aren’t just for the backyard! This year, Little Pim invites you to our first ever virtual Pinterest Easter Egg Hunt. Not into jelly beans? Don’t worry. This year the prize is $75 to LittlePim.com.

Click over to our Easter Egg Hunt board and see if you can find the little surprises we have tucked away. Little Pim is hiding in 10 of the pins on this board! The more you find and repin, the more entries you will have in the drawing.

The rules are simple:

1. FollowLittle Pim on Pinterest (@littlepimterest).
2. Create a Pinterest board called “Little Pim Easter Basket.”
3. Fill it with your favorite Easter crafts and activities.
4. Visit our “Easter Egg Hunt” board and begin the hunt. Repin anytime you think you have found one of our hidden pandas.
5. Send us the link to your board by filling out this simple form by or before Sunday, April 20.
6. And that’s it!

Keep your eyes peeled for œufs, huevos, ovos, Eier, uova, and other Easter eggs. Happy hunting!

Contest ends Sunday, April 20 at 11:59 EST. For more information, view Official Rules here.

Update: We have a winner! View the winning board here.

April is National Autism Awareness Month

At Little Pim, we’re proud of all of our little learners. But recently, we’ve been hearing some amazing stories from some Little Pim families in the Autism community. We'd thought we'd share a few to celebrate April's being National Autism Awareness Month: 1. “My 4-year-old daughter received a Spanish language set as a gift.  She is enjoying them, but I was very surprised to find that my 7-year-old son has become so interested in them.  He has Autism Spectrum Disorder and is an emergent reader.  The simplicity and repetition for a child who is an auditory learner over a visual learner is key. The content and the color palette is soothing enough not to overstimulate and therefore, makes it easier to keep his attention.   He has been watching them every morning and loves to call out his new words like "Perro!" and "Lapiz!" and "Manzana!"…It's hard to find a learning activity for both of my children.  It's hard for a child on the Autism Spectrum to hold his interest. These are wonderful tools for them.” 

2. "When our son was diagnosed with autism at 2 years of age, one of our main concerns was the delay in his language. After some research we purchased the Little Pim complete set in English. We were very pleased with the clear pronunciation of words and entertainment of the video. Little Pim provided our son with a fun opportunity to learn. Any child can benefit from Little Pim’s Immersion Method, whether it is to enhance their native tongue or to learn a new language."

We were delighted to hear such amazing stories. But we also wondered about how Little Pim’s language learning system was able to work so well for these emergent learners.

Adrienne Borgersen’s nephew has autism spectrum disorder. She’s also on staff at Little Pim and was  able to share this interesting background and perspective with us:

"Little Pim taps into both ‘ABA’ (Applied Behavior Analysis) and ‘echolalia.'

ABA is a tool used to educate students on the spectrum. It includes repetition reinforcement and reward.  Really, every teaching method uses repetition. You don't teach a child something once and expect them to learn it.

Echolalia is when children on the spectrum sometimes pick up bits and pieces of things and tend to repeat them.  If you recognize the echolalia speech, you can adapt your understanding of what someone is saying to help teach him conversation and social skills…it’s the same concept as teaching a different language.   For example, if you sat with a child who spoke only Spanish, and you didn’t speak Spanish at all, you would first try to learn what he was saying. You would listen to what he said more than once. Through repetition, once you learned why he was saying it, then you could reverse and teach him your language.  It’s the same thing. When the communication is successful, you reward them. That’s the ABA techniques to teach, and hopefully diminish, echolalia.

This is all why my nephew is responding to the Little Pim method.  The color palette, the repetition, the calm, consistent style, is ‘speaking his language’.”

You can learn more about ABA at Autism Speaks' incredibly informative and user friendly site.

In addition, we'd like to say  Mazel Tov! (Hebrew), Felicitazioni! (Italian), Omedetô! (Japanese), and Pozdravlaiu! (Russian) in addition to our own hearty Congratulations! for all the accomplishments our special learners achieve every day.