Hot dogs shaped like letters?

[TechWife]

When ds was little I had a preschool activity book called “Slow & Steady Get Me Ready.” I did anyone else have that? Did it have instructions in it on how to notch hot dogs to get them to bend into different letters when fried? It was a letter of the week thing. I remember looking at it and thinking about how odd it was & I think it was in that book. The book had a bright yellow cover. For some reason it popped into my head tonight. Who in the world figured out how to do that? Can you imagine failed experiments? Why did they think it was something that should be done? Did anyone do this with their kids? Any success stories? 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I used this book with both my kids. I don’t remember hot dogs notched and bent into letter shapes. 

[Junie]

I have this book, and the hot dog letter instructions are definitely in there, but we never made them.

[Farrar]

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready was my mother's book for me when I was little and then she found a vintage copy for me when I had my kids. It's truly a great little book. More people should adhere to the stuff in there. I mean, I don't remember the hot dog letters and that's sort of funny, but there were lots of sweet little tips in there.

[Drama Llama]

I need this book! My niece loves hot dogs.  I would love to surprise her with her name in curled hot dogs for her birthday!

[Starr]

53 minutes ago, Junie said:

I have this book, and the hot dog letter instructions are definitely in there, but we never made them.

Looks like you are elected to take one for the team and let us know how they turn out. Pictures please. 🤣

[Junie]

17 minutes ago, Starr said:

Looks like you are elected to take one for the team and let us know how they turn out. Pictures please. 🤣

Actually, I just looked for the book and I couldn't find it.  Which means that it's in the basement... somewhere.

We used the book for kindergarten, but my baby is in 6th grade, so I haven't used it in a while.

[Terabith]

I'm browsing through my copy of Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready copyright 2002, and I don't see anything about notching hot dogs.  

[wendyroo]

Well, here is the full text of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready. I spent 10 minutes browsing and couldn't find a hot dog activity, but it certainly could be in there.

[KungFuPanda]

I vaguely remember cutting hot dogs to look like an octopus once. 
 

I’d REALLY hoped early elementary and early childhood education would go back to slow and steady, play-based, and social skills based education, but I’ve been waiting 20 years and it hasn’t happened yet. I used to think pedagogy was a pendulum but now I’ve got more of a runaway train theory working. 

[Drama Llama]

I wonder if they realized that a recipe for a major choking hazard in a book for parents of toddlers was a liability and removed it. 

But since my niece is not a toddler, I still need to figure out this skill.  

[Terabith]

Just now, Baseballandhockey said:

I wonder if they realized that a recipe for a major choking hazard in a book for parents of toddlers was a liability and removed it. 

But since my niece is not a toddler, I still need to figure out this skill.  

I mean, to be fair, the alphabet lessons are almost all for four year olds.  I can't remember if four year olds are allowed to eat hot dogs or not.  

[Drama Llama]

1 minute ago, Terabith said:

I mean, to be fair, the alphabet lessons are almost all for four year olds.  I can't remember if four year olds are allowed to eat hot dogs or not.  

Well yes, but I guarantee there are parents who will decide their two year old is a genius and try them.  

And their two year old might be a genius.  When my genius was a two year old, I don't recall his chewing skills being the give away. 

[KSera]

9 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

And their two year old might be a genius.  When my genius was a two year old, I don't recall his chewing skills being the give away.

And my genius is apraxic with a terrible gag and swallow!

eta: Lol, I can only find the letter "S" so far, but lots of other shapes here: https://clickamericana.com/topics/food-drink/putting-on-the-dog-fun-and-fancy-hot-dog-designs-1970-2

Edited January 18, 2022 by KSera

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, wendyroo said:

Well, here is the full text of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready. I spent 10 minutes browsing and couldn't find a hot dog activity, but it certainly could be in there.

I looked through the activities related to the alphabet. I remember them. No hot dogs. 

[Drama Llama]

11 minutes ago, KSera said:

And my genius is apraxic with a terrible gag and swallow!

eta: Lol, I can only find the letter "S" so far, but lots of other shapes here: https://clickamericana.com/topics/food-drink/putting-on-the-dog-fun-and-fancy-hot-dog-designs-1970-2

I think this will be an engineering puzzle for my 11 year old.  I also suspect he'll be eating a lot of hot dogs as he figures it out.  

[Junie]

1 hour ago, wendyroo said:

Well, here is the full text of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready. I spent 10 minutes browsing and couldn't find a hot dog activity, but it certainly could be in there.

This is not the book that I have.  I won't be able to look for mine this week, but I will try to remember to do it over the weekend or early next week.

[KungFuPanda]

does this help?

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

I mean, to be fair, the alphabet lessons are almost all for four year olds.  I can't remember if four year olds are allowed to eat hot dogs or not.  

I think I read an article somewhere that said no hotdogs (unless cut in half) until 5, because they can still choke. At any rate my 3 year old is clearly a genius because she is fully capable of eating and not choking on a hotdog. Of course hotdog letter activity will fail at my house because my 3 year old would eat it before I had time to finish sculpting it.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Clarita
typo

[VickiMNE]

Like Jean, I had the book and used it pretty heavily--no hotdog activities in my very old copy.

(One thought:  Book titles aren't copywriteable--maybe there is another book with the same/similar title?)

 

[Junie]

2 hours ago, VickiMNE said:

Like Jean, I had the book and used it pretty heavily--no hotdog activities in my very old copy.

(One thought:  Book titles aren't copywriteable--maybe there is another book with the same/similar title?)

 

Yes, I think that is exactly what is going on -- I think there are two books with the same title.

[TechWife]

Y’all are such good sports to help me solve this mystery! I wonder about the dueling book titles - something to think about.

It’s interesting some remember these but most don’t. It could be one activity that has taken on a “mind of it’s own” in my memory bank. 
 

Hopefully @Juniewill be able to find the book soon & help me (us?) all out! 

[Terabith]

There’s also been a LOT of editions of this. I bet the hot dog activity was in an edition that came out before choking rules were modified?  It’s been being printed since the 70’s, I think. 

[Drama Llama]

31 minutes ago, Terabith said:

There’s also been a LOT of editions of this. I bet the hot dog activity was in an edition that came out before choking rules were modified?  It’s been being printed since the 70’s, I think. 

I feel like lots of things have changed since the 70's.  People are also starting their kids on academics much earlier.  I also think that the level of concern that companies and publishers have about liability has changed.

[athena1277]

15 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I vaguely remember cutting hot dogs to look like an octopus once. 
 

I’d REALLY hoped early elementary and early childhood education would go back to slow and steady, play-based, and social skills based education, but I’ve been waiting 20 years and it hasn’t happened yet. I used to think pedagogy was a pendulum but now I’ve got more of a runaway train theory working. 

There’s a Mexican restaurant near my mom’s house that we always go to when we visit.  Dd5 gets “octopus hotdogs” there.  She loves them.  She thinks it’s Mexican food. 

[plaidpants]

Now I want hot dogs 😋 

I thought hot dogs were like grapes, you have to cut them width wise but then littles could have them?

[Drama Llama]

40 minutes ago, plaidpants said:

Now I want hot dogs 😋 

I thought hot dogs were like grapes, you have to cut them width wise but then littles could have them?

Yes, you just have to quarter them the long way.  

But I think doing that stop them from curling into letters.  

[Junie]

Ok, so I did a search in the basement and found my book.

It's called Early Education at Home by M. Jean Soyke.  So I was totally wrong about the title.  Each week of the curriculum focuses on a different letter of the alphabet, and many (but not all) of the letters have instructions for making hot dogs in that shape.