| These easy, no-bake cookies are so much fun to make and made with fresh bananas, a touch of graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, and toasted sesame seeds. We've also made these gluten free with substituting a little coconut sugar for the graham crackers and they were scrumptious! |  |
| Step 1 Toast 1/3 cup sesame seeds in a cast iron skillet on low heat until they change color and begin to pop. Then grind in a suribachi or pestle and mortar. The grinding releases a wonderful aroma in the in the seeds! |   |
| Step 2 Place 2 graham crackers and a sprinkle of shredded coconut and ground sesame seeds in a ziploc bag. Then get a hammer or rolling pin to crush the ingredients together. This is a great activity if your little one has been feeling frustrated... a hammering project with a purpose! |   |
| Step 3 Slice bananas with a crinkle knife or butter knife. We had the older kids cut the banana in halves until we had 8 pieces to work on counting and fractions. |  |
| Step 4 Practice those tonging skills and place a banana piece in the ziploc bag. It's great to have a friend help open the bag! Cooperative cooking!! |  |
| Step 5 Shake your banana really fast! |  |
| Step 6 Enjoy with your co-chefs! |   |
'Young children benefit from experiences that support the development of fine motor skills in the hands and fingers. Children should have strength and dexterity in their hands and fingers before being asked to manipulate a pencil on paper. Working on dexterity and strength first can eliminate the development of an inappropriate pencil grasp, which is becoming more commonplace as young children are engaged in writing experiences before their hands are ready. Using eye droppers to "pick up" colored water for color mixing or to make artistic designs on paper will help to build the strength and dexterity necessary to hold a pencil appropriately.' www.education.com
'Yellow and blue make... green!'
Bouncy fun!
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Free play!
"I got a banana!"
On Wednesday we made cornstarch slime, or as Dr Suess refers to it as 'Ooblek'. Our cornstarch goo is what scientists call a 'Non-Newtonian' liquid. Basically, Sir Issac Newton stated individual liquids flow at consistent, predictable rates. However, cornstarch goo does NOT follow those rules – it can act almost like a solid, and then flow like a liquid. The kids had a blast exploring all the different states of the slime as they mixed and played.
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Tree pose
On Monday we started with cutting practice and then made collages:
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The gravity ramps turned into a balance beam!
We played a matching and sorting game using shades of color to develop skills in visual perception and color discrimination. This color game also provides an excellent opportunity to introduce vocabulary so that the kids can learn the names for each of the colors and the associated descriptive terms... like coral, persimmon, and lilac. This game is made with free paint sample cards from Home Depot!
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We made fresh pesto from the garden for lunch:
And then we discovered a birthday party in the sand box!
On Wednesday, we painted a mural together with sponge shapes and brushes. Group murals are a wonderful opportunity to learn how to share space and inspire one anothers creativity.
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"Yoga makes me happy!" Sweet words right after yoga class.
Our gardening project turned into a full on water fight!
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And the kids did an amazing job cooperating on this floor puzzle together.
See you next week!
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