| So delicious. Not quite as healthy as our usual fare, but worthy of a birthday celebration.
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! |              |
We decorated our own birthday hats!
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Freeze Dance!
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!
The kids love to gently pat the soil after planting, so sweet and loving.
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!
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!".
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!
Dress up!
A very creative choo choo train!
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!
The kids did an amazing job cooperating to play our parachute games!
These guys played with this car park for a long time! They even made each car a member of the family and included "grandma".
We planted lettuce seeds and watered them in with rain water collected by our wagon.
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