Blog Archives

Mississippi Mud Pie

9/30/2015

This vegan, gluten free, no-bake mud pie is packed with nutritious ingredients and a huge hit with the kids! It does take some preparation to make but it's totally worth the time.

Step 1
Pit one cup of dates and blend with 2 cups of oats, 2 cups of walnuts, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp vanilla in a vitamix blender.

Step 2
Gently press the nut-date-oat mixture into a pie plate - be sure to get it into all the corners. Let chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator (or overnight). This is such a delicious and easy pie crust that is great for a lot of different no-bake recipes.

Step 3
Blend together 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 cups of pre-soaked hazelnuts, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1/3 cup cacao, 1/2 cup almond milk, and 1/2 tsp salt. Gently spread hazelnut mixture into the chilled pie crust and chill for 2 more hours.

Step 4
For the top pudding layer - blend together 2 avocados, 2 bananas, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup cacao, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt. Spread the chocolate pudding layer on top of the hazelnut layer and chill another 2 hours. This pudding is also delicious just by itself!

Once the pie has set, garnish with shredded coconut and share with your friends!

Natural Building with Mama Kindra

Kindra came in and taught us how clay comes out of the Earth. She showed us how to test the soil to see if it has enough clay to build with. If you take a handful of soil and a little water, and it can be rolled into a snake that can go around your finger, then there is enough clay.

Kindra and her husband John are amazing Natural Builders! Check out their website: www.claysandstraw.com

The kids dug a hole in the earth and explored the different layers of topsoil, rock, and clay.

Kindra brought in a bunch of red clay from the Piney Woods. The kids loved exploring the sensory qualities of the clay.

The kids experimented with adding just the right amount of sand to make an amazing building material.

"A fairy palace!"

"I'm making a castle for bats!"

The kids even made little clay creatures with other natural materials!

We filled up our hole with water and enjoyed getting completely immersed in our therapeutic mud spa!

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."

Rachel Carson

Planet Earth Watercolors

We created some beautiful earth paintings with coffee filters, washable markers, and a spray bottle with a variety of earth models. Some of the kids were really surprised to learn that the earth has more water than land.

Pangaea Puzzle

We colored and cut out continents to create a Pangaea puzzle...

We watched a video about Pangaea and how one large piece of land separated into several different continents. One of the ways scientists can prove the continental drift is evidence of similar fossils found on different continents.
We created a color matching game to help the kids see how this occurred.

Volcano!

The energy that makes continents move is also what makes volcanoes erupt. The kids loved creating a volcano with rocks, sand, vinegar, and baking soda.

Crystals

The heat and pressure that causes volcanoes is also what causes crystals to form.

We explored a variety of rocks and crystals on the light table...

Check out Nature's Treasures for cool crystals and a fun adventure to go on with your kiddos!

We started putting all kinds of objects on the light table and noticed that some objects were "translucent" (allows light to shine through) and some objects were "opaque" (does not allow light to pass through).

We went on a hunt for "translucent" and "opaque" objects in the garden. The kids were particularly intrigued with these wild morning glories.

The kids discovered that the fresher, more alive, plants were more translucent than the older or dead plants.

Beautiful! The light table really helps us to see more details of the natural world.

Earth Element Lunch

The season of Late Summer is represented by the Earth Element in Traditional Chinese Medicine and a harmonious time to eat nutritious sweet foods like: Steamed Sweet Rice, Chickpeas with Coconut Butter, and Garden Butternut Stew.

Earth Yoga

In Yoga and Movement class we have been paying respect to the earth with our bodies! The following movements were inspired by Martha Belknap's poem in Mind-Body-Magic.

"I bow to Mother Earth" (forward bend, hands to the earth)

"I lift to Father Sky" (reach up, arms over head)

"I open to the sun" (open arms, parallel to the ground)

"And the clouds floating by" (sway arms overhead)

"I welcome the rain that flows to the sea" (sway hips side to side)

"I honor the kindness" (bend to each other in a bow)

"In you and in me" (point to each other and point to self)

Story Time

We have been reading the awesome book "On Earth" by G. Brian Karas to learn how the earth moves around the sun to create our days, nights, months and seasons. Highly recommend it! This young scientist was able to point out the earth in this picture of our solar system. All those blue and green watercolors really helped us learn how to identify our planet!

Fall Equinox

On September 23 we learned about the Autumn Equinox by coloring and cutting our planet earths and then surrounding them with an equal amount of suns and moons to symbolize that the equinox means that night and day are almost exactly the same length.

Mama Marika has been coming in regularly and bringing us some awesome activities:

Okra Stamps

We explored different stages of the growth cycle of an okra plant and then created star stamps from them with paint made from beet powder!

Marble Races

We explored gravity and velocity while strengthening our fine motor and concentration skills with this fun marble race!

Suncatchers

We made earth inspired suncatchers with glue and liquid watercolors...

Elderberry Medicine

We have been learning about the healing powers of elderberries with the Herb Fairies this month! Elderberries have been shown in scientific studies to reduce inflammation, fight viral infections, and boost the immune system. Check out these studies done by the University of Maryland Medical Center:
https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/elderberry

We made our own elderberry decoction by measuring out 1 TBS per 1 cup of water then bringing to a low simmer on the stove for 20 minutes.

Ater our medicine had cooled, we added local honey for further seasonal health benefits (and a yummy sweet taste) as well a few drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract as a natural preservative.

We stirred our decoction and carefully poured it through a funnel. The kids loved these cobalt blue bottles!

Making our own medicine was an excellent example of how you can take a simple Montessori excercise of measuring and pouring and transform it into a rich, dynamic learning experience that the children will remember for years to come.