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Rainforest Delight

10/25/2013

2 Comments

 
This fruit and nut salad is really easy for kids to make and a fun way to start talking about the rainforest.


Ingredients:
3 bananas
1/4 cup mango juice
1/4 cup goji berries
1/4 cup sweet cacao nibs
1/4 cup cashews

Step 1
Peel and slice bananas.


Bananas are an excellent food for kids to start practicing their knife skills. This crinkle knife is really safe and easy for the kids to handle.




We put on some samba music and the kids started drumming along to create more of a rainforest atmosphere.





 






This slicing knife from Curious Chef is also a great first knife to use.









Step 2
Add mango juice


While we were cooking we talked about the rainforest as a natural habitat and what kinds of plants and animals live in the canopy.




Step 3
Add goji berries, cacao chips, and cashews.  

You could also try brazil nuts and coconut flakes.




Step 4
Gently mix ingredients.



The kids are so sweet with the directions to be 'gentle' when they stir!




Step 5
Enjoy with your friends!










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We worked on this rainforest puzzle together and read 'The Umbrella' by Jan Brett.  We learned about toucans, tapirs, tree frogs and more!
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We love these 'Hexactly' hexagon blocks by Fat Brain Toys.
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These magnetic wooden blocks by Tegu are also really fun to create with.
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Our favorite homemade playdough!
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We pressed playdough letters to match the letters in our names.  We also tried to identify playdough letters with our eyes closed.
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The kids love drawing with these beeswax crayons from Faber Castell.
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We found a lady bug!
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Free play!
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More Alphabet Play Dough!  Does anyone have any fun ideas for playdough?  Please share in our comments box!
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Yummy!
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Freeze tag!  Not a lot of freezing, but a whole lot of fun!!
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Sweet friends!
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Here's the scientific evidence: boxes make you happy!
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We found a lady bug and put her in the vegetable garden where she would have plenty of food to eat.
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Making 'blueberry leaf cake' together.
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Pumpkin still life... 'pumpkins don't have to be orange'... love that free expression!
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We decorated our own masks and then had a masquerade parade!  Thanks to the Zilker Mama that donated all the lovely bells with ribbons!!
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The kids were so proud of themselves for making some delicious bean and cheese tacos! They are doing such a wonderful job learning how to take turns and manipulating tools.
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Happy popsicles!
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2 Comments

Pumpkin Spice Birthday Cupcakes!

10/17/2013

2 Comments

 
So delicious. Not quite as healthy as our usual fare, but worthy of a birthday celebration.
  • 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/2 cup Coconut Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Ginger Juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh Nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
  • 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk
  • 1 whole Egg
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1/2 cup Golden Raisins (optional!)



Step 1
Enjoy the scent of fresh ground nutmeg.  This hand grinder from Oxo is perfectly sized for kids hands.







Step 2
Make ginger pulp with a Chinese box grater, then squeeze the juice out of the pulp.







Step 3
Grease the muffin pan with coconut oil.








Step 4
Mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, ginger juice, and vanilla.







Step 5
Blend together really well with a whisk and set aside.








Step 6
Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut sugar and salt.  We didn't have a sifter so we used this sieve and it worked great.

I love her strong sifting stance!




Step 7
Crumble butter into flour mixture and add raisins and wet ingredients to dry.







Step 8
Very gently combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.  Then spoon into prepared muffin pan.






Step 9
Combine a little coconut sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the muffins before cooking for a delicious crunch on top.

Then bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Allow to cool, then top with frosting below if desired.


Step 10
Make cream cheese frosting by mixing 1/4 cup softened butter
4 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 pound powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

This took a little muscle to mix by hand so you might want to ask an older sibling for help.  It was worth the work as the kids were DELIGHTED to have frosting!

Step 11
Enjoy with your friends!










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We decorated our own birthday hats!
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Freeze Dance!
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We planted 'Scarlet Nantes' carrot seeds and learned how to make tiny holes in the soil to tuck the baby seeds in.
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We also dug holes and planted some Asian greens, Tat soi and Mizuna.  A big thanks to the Zilker Mama that donated all the awesome vegetable and herb transplants from Johnson's Backyard Garden!
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The kids love to gently pat the soil after planting, so sweet and loving.
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We loved playing with oil pastels! We blended blue and green to create beautiful hues of turquoise using our fingers and sea sponges.  It's fascinating how each child's picture was so unique!
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We made cloud dough!  So simple: mix 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil (other cooking oil will work too).  First make a mountain with the flour and add the oil in a pool on top, then blend for 5 minutes with your hands.
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We really enjoyed "making it snow!".
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Once the oil is blended the dough can make shapes, here's some "turtles"!  The cloud dough is so lovely and soft, this is definitely a sensory experience that we will repeat!
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We set out some pictures of birds and collage materials for the kids to create freely with. As the kids noticed all the beautiful colors in the birds they began to match them to the colors of the feathers.  This was an excellent example of child-directed learning!
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We made pumpkin cupcakes and celebrated birthdays again!
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Dress up!
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A very creative choo choo train!
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These magnet tiles are awesome! They are educational in so many ways: kids learn about geometry, patterning, magnetic principles... imaginative and innovative to build with too.  If you don't already have some, put them on your Christmas list!
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The kids did an amazing job cooperating to play our parachute games!
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These guys played with this car park for a long time!  They even made each car a member of the family and included "grandma".
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We planted lettuce seeds and watered them in with rain water collected by our wagon.  
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2 Comments

Mini Frittatas

10/11/2013

2 Comments

 
We served these mini frittatas with a sweet vegetable rice soup and snow peas with carrots.  This is a great recipe to make with a group of kids as there's enough eggs for everyone to crack one.  

Ingredients:
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup milk
several pinches of salt
2 tsp coconut oil to grease pan
Step 1:
Oil the muffin pan






Step 2:
grate zucchini









Step 3:
grate cheese









Step 4:
crack eggs









Step 5:
mix eggs using an egg beater









or just a simple whisk will do!










Step 6:
add milk









Step 7:
add cheese and zucchini










Step 8:
Pour egg mixture into a small pitcher and pour into prepared muffin pan


Bake the muffins at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.




Enjoy with your friends!

These muffins are great re-heated in the microwave or fired up with a little butter.





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Circle time and Yoga
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Where did everybody's feet go?
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We made box choo choo trains and rabbit houses.
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"Vroom vroom!"
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On Wednesday we got out the shaving foam!  Clean up afterward was fun too!
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On Tuesday we made raised salt paintings:
Step 1:
Draw a design with glue.  black paper is great as the bright colors show up really well.







Step 2:
Sprinkle salt on top of the glue.










Step 3:
Shake off excess salt and save it for later projects on a paper plate.








Step 4:
Add 4 drops off food coloring to 1 TBS water.  Using an eye dropper put a small amount of liquid on top of the salty glue - watch the color race along the glue! 





The kids made lots of great sound effects as the colors spread!










This activity, like many of our art explorations is more about the process than the finished product as the color doesn't stick to the salt for long, but it sure is fun to make!
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We played with boxes too!  We painted them, made box collages, drew a grocery store with all our favorite foods and built a box city.  The kids love these open ended creative projects where they come up with the ideas.  Thanks so much to all the folks who bought us boxes to play with!
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Bath time!
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We love using these training chopsticks at lunch to pack in some more fine motor development.
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A chicken makes friends at circle time.
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We played with contemplative charcoal art.  We looked at different shapes of circles in rocks, on shells, in drawings, on mason jars... and then used different tools to blend and smudge the charcoal.
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We also cooked up some sparkly green homemade play-dough.  The kids especially enjoyed the hard work of kneading the dough
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We had a blast in the bouncy house!
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Thanks for a wonderful week kids!
2 Comments

Honey Nut Butter Balls

10/4/2013

2 Comments

 
Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond butter (or other nut butter)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups puffed rice cereal





Step 1

Combine almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract.






Step 2

Using a rubber spatula, stir in cereal and mix well.






























Step 3

Place wax paper on a cookie sheet. Have a small bowl of water ready to keep hands moist and less sticky.






Step 4

With moist hands, roll mixture into 1 inch balls, and place them on cookie sheet.

Chill for 30 minutes and then serve. Store in a ziplock plastic bag.



Step 5

Enjoy with your friends!
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We explored shapes, stamps and color.  The kids were excited to create with a new artistic media!
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We planted lemon grass and pineapple mint in our garden.  We loved how easy the soil was to play with after the rain and experiencing the rich scents of the herbs.
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Triangle pose!
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We made nature sculptures!  Each child bought nature items from home and gathered natural wonders from our back yard to create their own unique piece.  It was wonderful to watch the kids delight in the sensory quality of the clay. 
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Here's a few blurry shots from yoga time!
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The kids enjoyed making cucumber flowers for snack, but they all got eaten before we got to the snack table!
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Love them!
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On Monday we made blueberry flax muffins for a Zilker Mama who just had a baby!  Oh, how we love to bake in the early morning light!
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We usually count to 5 to help take turns mixing, today we counted in English, Spanish and German!
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We had an apple taste test to discern different qualities of sweet and sour.
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Our panel took this taste test quite seriously and made predictions as to which apples would be sweet or sour and voted for their favorites... Fujis won the day!
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And then things just got really silly!
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The kids discovered that the rain soaked chalk had a different shade and consistency and was fun to draw with.
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We made nature sculptures too!
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We made fresh pesto from the garden again.  We added cooked kabocha squash and collard greens to our pesto sauce and the kids ate it all up!
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We experimented with a new water play table...
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and with a little team effort and a wheel barrow it turned into a big mud puddle!
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And we really enjoyed making new friends!
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2 Comments

    How we learn...

    The intention of this blog is to include the community in our learning process and to inspire families to engage in fun and healthy activities together!

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