In Love with Leaves

10/12/2023

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Inquiry-Based Learning

Here at Children's Garden, we love to practice inquiry-based learning!

In traditional early childhood classrooms, children are offered many pre-determined activities, with “right” and “wrong” ways of completing them.

In inquiry-based learning the children wonder and ask questions. The educator takes into consideration the children’s interests when planning activities. An investigation is started when a group of children have a persisting interest and the educators create play invitations where the children explore, experiment and test their ideas.

A play invitation is an open-ended exploration. There is no predetermined outcome. The children may use the play invitation the way the educator envisioned – or take the materials and use them in entirely different ways.

In a play invitation, the children are not bound by the constraints of the materials they are offered. Instead, a play invitation acts as a launch pad for children’s own ideas and theories to develop.

Curious to learn more about inquiry-based learning? Check out the wealth of research and free trainings at Edutopia!

Exploring Leaves

The theme that emerged for our month of October was "In Love With Leaves." From our silver and red maple trees dropping yellow, orange, and red leaves all over, to the crisp, chilly mornings, we all appreciated the gentle glow this time of year brought to the Children's Garden.

Leaves are nature's treasures, and they hold a world of wonder waiting to be discovered. Think about the joy and curiosity a child experiences when they find a vibrant leaf on the ground or notice the changing colors of trees in the fall.

Together we pondered many questions and offered play invitations and activities around all the lovely leaves in the garden!

Why do leaves fall from the trees?
Why do some leaves have different shapes and sizes?
Why are some leaves smooth and some bumpy?
Why do leaves crunch when we step on them?
How do leaves know it's time to change colors?

Circle Time

This month, we began singing a few new songs and playing some new games during circle time! We marched, galloped, jumped, and stomped around a pumpkin, while also passing the pumpkin around and saying our name and one thing we're grateful/excited for this season.

Art

Gardening & Cooking

This month, we picked lots of tomatoes, herbs, and greens from the garden with with the kids for our magic soup and also got really into baking!

Coconut Cookies

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

⅓ cup / 50g coconut flour
⅓ cup / 75g butter or coconut oil softened
2 eggs large
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoon coconut sugar.

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl. Stir together with a fork.
Knead with your hands until you have a smooth dough. Let is rest for a few minutes to let the coconut flour expand. Then form a large ball. (If your dough is too soft for this, place the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes first).
Cut the large ball into 16 pieces and roll into little dough balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and press down with the palm of your hand into fat discs of circa 4 cm diameter (1.5 cm thick).
Bake in the oven for about 11-13 minutes or until golden.

Ultra Chocolatey Brownies

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut melted
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup coconut sugar
3 large eggs for cakier or 2 eggs for fudgier
2 teaspoons chocolate, or vanilla extract
½ cup Coconut Flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan with coconut oil. Line with parchment paper (or baking paper); set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, cocoa powder and sugar for about a minute.
Add the eggs and extract using a wooden spoon or spatula.
Add in flour and salt and mix into the wet ingredients until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly.
Top with chocolate chips, or other add-ins if you wish.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the center of the brownies in the pan no longer jiggles and is just set to the touch. NOTE: The brownies will keep baking in the hot pan out of the oven so you don't want to over-bake.
If testing with a toothpick, the toothpick should come out dirty for fudge-textured brownies. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature.
Makes 9-16 brownies depending how you big you cut them.

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

½ cup Coconut flour
½ cup Sugar--2e did 1/4 cup monk fruit sweetener & 1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup almond milk
½ tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
¼ cup Cocoa powder
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
½ cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Salt a pinch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
If you are using butter, melt it and set aside to cool.
Take eggs, sugar, vanilla, coconut oil in a bowl. Whisk till combined.
Add milk and mix well.
Add in coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda. Mix well.
If the batter is too thick, add some extra almond milk and adjust the batter consistency.
Add in chocolate chips and mix gently.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill your muffin liners. I would fill it ¾th of the liners.
Pop it into the oven, bake for 15 to 20 mins.
Remove and cool completely.

Yoga

We love playing with yoga cards! Check out our Lion's Breath, Peacock Pose, and Peace Warriors!

Social Emotional Learning

Everyday at snack we read books to boost our emotional intelligence!

Spanish

We have been loving our Spanish classes with Mama Annalise!

Music

Spelling our names with the beat of the drum and learning about harmonizing notes with the harmonium!

Science & Math

We foraged for berries and tree bark to dye cotton muslin. After adding a base (baking soda) and an acid (lemon juice) to each dye, the color amazingly changed!