F is for Food!

"Look, Ms Tamra, I'm making waffles for Daddy!"

Today we explored Dr Sears Traffic Light Eating. (For more information click here)

This is such an easy way to help kids remember 

what foods help them grow and 

what food should be saved for special occasions like parties or celebrations. 

So many foods to choose from! But which food will help our bodies the most? Like Lightening McQueen, we need the right kind of gas to go fast!

Green Go foods are things a farmer could grow--your body needs LOTS of these!

We found pictures and divided them into the right categories.  For simplicity in this discussion, we only briefly touched on the yellow light foods.

Making Playdough--a great Math activity with all the reading numbers, counting, comparing sizes and turn taking!

So much fun to watch the food coloring turn it green!!

Friendship Punch

Here's a recipe for a great (and very cute) friendship discussion:

With a pitcher of water on the table, I explained that I needed everyone to help me make friendship punch. I poured in some "friendship," a powder juice mix (I used crystal light) and we watched as it hit the water and magically started changing color (both the powder and the water).  Each child took a turn stirring and explained what they were adding to the friendship.  We had sharing, taking turns, being nice and even obeying our parents in our punch! 

When the kids finally got to taste their Friendship Punch . . . there were LOTS of exclamations of "delicious!" "Man, that's good stuff!" "we are GREAT cooks!" and other equally cute stuff. 

And to remind us of our friendships . . . we had mustaches for the rest of the day!

Octopus for Dinner??

Here's a fun little snack or dinner . . . 

Serve the kids OCTOPUS!

Here's some super simple steps. . .

Take a hot dog and cut it in half lengthwise, but stop about 1 or 2 inches from one end.  Then cut each of those halves in half . . . so now you have four legs.  Cut each of those four in half--ending with eight.  Place it on a pan (if baking in the oven--like I did the one above) or on a plate (for microwaving) with the legs spread out underneath and the uncut part on top.  As it cooks, the legs will curl--creating a great octopus effect!

You can use this to talk about the letter O (Octopus, Ocean) or the number eight (8 legs) or even the letter S for Sea . . . or just to make dinner a little more fun!

Letter B is for Baking Bread!

As part of our introduction to the letter B we Baked Bread.  

We mixed the ingredients together and had fun watching the magic yeast foam up!

Then we kneaded the dough . . . 

and shaped it into loaves.

  

Here's a tip . . . when doing something like this with multiple children, put it into the pan or cookie sheet in alphabetical order.  Then you can easily keep track of which item belongs to each child. 

Then each kiddo brushed his loaf with butter . . . 

And we waited (played!) while they baked . . . 

I love the different personalities of each loaf!  

Yum! Learning about B is DELICIOUS!!

P is for Pizza and Pajamas!

To celebrate the end of Letter P week, we had a big 

PIZZA and PAJAMA PARTY!

Everyone wore their PJ's and brought their favorite bedtime book.  We read, played games and made Pizza!

It was a BLAST!

Check out these happy kiddos in their Pajama's!

We played musical pillows (those are the animal pillows from our book nook) with a twist.  They hoped from pillow to pillow while the music played.  

When it stopped, they had to act like the animal they stopped on through the next round.  

It was a lot of fun!

Then we switched it up by turning the floor into hot lava and they had to hop from pillow to pillow.  I kept taking away pillows and moving them farther apart.  

We sure had a lot of giggling!

Each child made their own pizzas.  I pre-baked the dough.  Then each child was given a plate with cheese and pepperoni.  I scooped the sauce on the crust and they spread it around with a spoon. 

Then I popped them back into the oven until the cheese melted.

And then we FEASTED!

 (I had the kids say, "I love Pizza!" while I took the picture . . . not thinking about the fact some of them where in mid-chew . . . don't zoom in too closely!)

Their is something about wearing PJ's to school that kiddos just LOVE. 

I need to think of more occasions to do this!

Kool-Aid Playdough

K is for Kitchen . . . and in the kitchen we can make Kool-aid playdough!

I have tried a lot of playdough recipes . . . and this is by far the best.  It turns out great every time, is super soft, lasts forever and smells FANTASTIC!

Here's the recipe . . . 

2 1/2 C. flour

1/2 C. salt

2 pkg unsweetend Kool-aid (I actually used the walmart version of crystal light)

3 Tbl. oil

2 C. Boiling water (make sure only an adult handles the water!)

Mix dry ingredients together (flour, salt, kool-aid).  Pour oil in the center of the dry mixture.  Rapidly, stir in the boiling water.  It will be very sticky at this stage.  Set aside until it is cool to the touch.  Knead well.  It should be soft and smooth and not sticky. 

When doing this with kids, let them help you read the numbers in the recipe, count the scoops with you and help stir.  We also used this as an opportunity to discuss the different states of water (ice, liquid, gas) and the properties it has in each. 

They class had a lot of fun helping with the kneading it out as well!

The best part of course? Enjoying the end result!

"Look teacher, it's a valentine TEXAS!"

He wanted to take it home to show his mom . . . posting a picture on the computer was the next best option :)

Have fun in the Kitchen!

We're Nuts about Nifty N!

For our first day learning about the Letter Nn,

we focused on Nuts . . . and you can't talk about nuts without talking about PEANUTS . . .

and if you are going to talk about peanuts . . .

you'll end up talking about PEANUT BUTTER . . .

and if you talk about peanut butter . . .

you'll want to make  . . .

Nifty & Nice Chocolate Chip PeaNUT Butter Cookies!!

I really enjoy cooking with the kids.  They LOVE matching numbers from the recipe with the numbers on the measuring cup, counting scoops, smelling each ingredient and watching it transform from powder to slim to something delicious!

And the most fun of all?

Smelling and Tasting them fresh out of the oven!!

As one little boy told me today,

"Hey! We're good cooks!" 

T is for Turtle

In our Letter Bag we found lots of

interesting things that

start with the letter T . . .

Terrific Turtle Treats . . .

Directions:

Make a sugar cookie recipe and

use food coloring to color dough green.

(Hint: You'll have the most success if you color it BEFORE you add the flour!)

Have children roll dough into balls,

put on cookie sheet

and make criss-crossing patterns

by pushing down on the dough with the back of a fork.

Decorate to look like a turtle. We used a whole almond for the head

and chocolate chips or almond slices for the feet and tail.

Bake and enjoy!

We used our turtle theme day to explore the different kinds of homes animals live in. Also, turtles are reptiles and, like other reptiles, are cold-blooded so the inside of their body is the same temperature as the air around them. If they get too cold or too hot they will die. People and other mammals, like our pets, on the other hand, are warm blooded. What kinds of things do our bodies do when we get cold to help us warm up or cool down when we are too hot?

Sssss-super Sssss-silly Ssss-socks!

A huge thanks to Morgan at Brilliant Beginnings Preschool for the great super hero sock puppet idea!

Today Moko introduced us to his friend

Ssssuper Hero Ssssock

He had us help him match up his missing socks and

sssssssaid sssssilly thingssssss to usssss!

For our Snack we ate Sock Tortilla Wraps . . .

Ssssssix kidsssss ssssshow Off their Sssssilly Sssssuper Hero Sssssockssssss!

A is for Astronaut!

Today we had a lot of fun learning all about (and being) ASTRONAUTS!

After blasting into outer space in our rocket ship,

(and fighting off the invading Aliens)

some of our Astronaut Adventures included

exploring moon sand . . .

Learning all about what it is like in space.

One thing we talked about was gravity.

We dropped objects and watched them fall to the ground.

What would it be like without gravity?

The class was delighted to brainstorm silly things that would happen and easily led this discussion.

How would you eat something like . . . chocolate pudding?

It would just float off your spoon (lots of giggles at the thought)!

We brainstormed solutions . . .

and then

We ate Chocolate Pudding

Astronaut style . . .

Directions:

Have the children help you pre-make chocolate pudding

then scoop into STRONG ziplock bags and store in the fridge (we did this as one of our gathering activities as the children were arriving--don't forget to wash hands first!).

When your ready for your astronaut adventure . . .

Cut off the corner

and eat by squeezing it out!

Everyone will agree that

Chocolate Pudding tastes even better

during an Astronaut Adventure!

After returning safely to earth,

we practiced our Awesome "A" writing skills.

See you Monday for Another Awesome Adventure!!

A is for Apple

I had each child bring an apple from home. We lined them up and compared their shapes, sizes, and colors. We cut the apples open to count the number of seeds inside and to compare the seed sizes between various kinds of apples. The class was fascinated to discover the star-shape that is revealed when an apple is cut in half horizontally. They also really enjoyed tasting a slice of each type of apple.

When we were done exploring the apples we made . . .

AWESOME APPLESAUCE!

Directions:

Peel, core and slice about 2 pounds of apples.

Simmer in a pot with about a 1/2 cup water.

When the apples are tender remove from heat

and mash with a potato masher (will be chunky).

Add some sugar to sweeten (about 1/3 Cup)

and sprinkle lightly with Cinnamon.

Very easy, but super yummy!!

I love to cook with the children in my class. It is such a fun way to explore senses (touch, smell, etc), explore math (counting ingredients, comparing measuring cup sizes, identifying numbers in recipes), and print awareness as we refer to the recipes for instructions. In addition, they are learning about cooperation and taking turns. Kids love to help in the kitchen and are often more eager try something new if they helped create it . . . and don't even realize all the valuable things they are learning in the process!

Marvelous ME!

Our first day of school subject was "Marvelous ME!" We not only got to learn a little about each child's favorite things and played a lot of games to help us remember their names, but we also learned all about our bodies.

For example, we traced various body parts and compared their lengths . . .

And explored our senses with

SENSE-SATIONAL JELLO!

Supplies:

• Enough Jello to make 1 serving per child. If using more than one pack, chose different flavors and have the kids guess what color the final product will be.
• Water
• Ice

Directions:
Follow the speed-set recipe, exploring senses all along the way! For example, HEAR the package being opened, SMELL the powder, FEEL the water and ice, SEE the colors changing as water is poured on the powder, etc.

Everyone gets a chance to stir!

Chill for an hour and then . . .

TASTE!

And what was today's popular playtime toy? TRAINS!
Complete with lots of "Whoo-whoo's" and "Chugga-chugga-choo-choo's!"