Rainforest Delight

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!

We worked on this rainforest puzzle together and read 'The Umbrella' by Jan Brett.  We learned about toucans, tapirs, tree frogs and more!

We love these 'Hexactly' hexagon blocks by Fat Brain Toys.

These magnetic wooden blocks by Tegu are also really fun to create with.

Our favorite homemade playdough!

We pressed playdough letters to match the letters in our names.  We also tried to identify playdough letters with our eyes closed.

The kids love drawing with these beeswax crayons from Faber Castell.

We found a lady bug!

Free play!

More Alphabet Play Dough!  Does anyone have any fun ideas for playdough?  Please share in our comments box!

Yummy!

Freeze tag!  Not a lot of freezing, but a whole lot of fun!!

Sweet friends!

Here's the scientific evidence: boxes make you happy!

We found a lady bug and put her in the vegetable garden where she would have plenty of food to eat.

Making 'blueberry leaf cake' together.

Pumpkin still life... 'pumpkins don't have to be orange'... love that free expression!

We decorated our own masks and then had a masquerade parade!  Thanks to the Zilker Mama that donated all the lovely bells with ribbons!!

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.

Happy popsicles!