Week 7

* Everyone really like the Blokus game I had on the table. It's another great game to develop spatial skills.

* I told the story of Pete's a Pizza by William Steig. It's a funny book about a grumpy little boy that feels better after his parents pretend he is a lump of dough and make a pizza out of him. Several of the kids were then transformed into pizzas (and burritos and egg rolls!) and loved it. Ask them to make you into a pizza! You will love it, too!

* We read How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World and talked about the different ingredients the girl went in search of. I had a basket with cinnamon sticks, wheat, sea salt and cream to look at and talk about. They loved to smell the cinnamon. We shook up some cream in a small jar and made butter, but forgot to eat it! Ha! If you wanted to extend what we talked about at home, dissolve 1/4 cup of salt in a glass of water and let it evaporate. The salt crystals are cool and get really big.

*I told the little ones (EJF, MH, MF) the story of the apple and the star. When I cut open the apple to reveal the star there was such a reverent awe in their sweet little faces. Breathtaking. I love to read books of course, but there is something so special about telling a story in the oral tradition. There is a reason they call it telling a story "by heart"; you are sharing your heart and their is a connection.
*The big girls, RF and SH, made us German Puffed Pancakes for our snack today. Such an easy recipe and it has such big results! SH asked for the recipe so she can make it for Activity Day sometime.

*The rest of the afternoon was spent in practicing and cooperation as everyone planned to put on a show for the MSA crowd when they came back. The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything was a big hit!

Puffed Oven Pancakes

2 Tbl butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1. Place butter in a 10 inch oven proof skillet (we used pie plates). Place in a 400 degree oven for 3-5 mins. or until butter melts. In a medium mixing bowl use a wire whisk to beat eggs until combined. Add flour, milk and salt. Beat mixture until smooth. Immediately pour into hot skillet. Bake about 25 mins. or until puffed and well browned.

2. Top with Nutella, powdered sugar, jam, or fruit and whipped cream. We like it with lemon curd at our house.

Week 6

* I put the game Set (click on the name for a link) out on the coffee table and didn't hear much from the kids for about 45 minutes!

*I read Caps For Sale to the two youngest and before I knew it I had almost everyone around me. A good book is a good book, no matter the age!

*We made African masks and everyone did a great job! Way better than mine! haha

*The kids were talking about ASL, so I put in Signing Time for them. I don't usually let them watch t.v., but this was relevant and educational. :)

*A very rousing game of cops and robbers commenced in the back yard.

* The boys made "decorate your own" cupcakes for everyone and even the MSA teens got a treat today.

Week 5

*Making God's Eyes is an easy craft once you get the hang of it and so rewarding! They look so cool and intricate, especially if you use multi colored yarn, but even the little ones can handle it very well. They are also addicting to make, so have lots of popsicle sticks and yarn on hand. They make great Christmas ornaments.

*The Wedgits came right out again today. They all really like this building toy a lot. We all played a variety of games together. There is a game called Catch a Match (click on the name for a link) that they all spent a lot of time with. It's a visual perception game that is very tricky!

*Our smoothie princess made us another treat this week. Yum!

*I can't believe I didn't take pictures but everyone was dressed up and played indians for a long time. We have tons of silk scarves that we use for dress up and they were very fancy indians!

Week 4

It was a rainy day so we stayed inside for the morning.

*Everyone loved the Wedgits! I also had Rush Hour out for them.

*I read The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush and we talked about how everyone has a mission in life!

* We went outside to collect interesting paintbrushes (leaves etc.) to paint with but it was a little too soggy. We painted wet on wet with tube watercolor on watercolor paper.

*We have a resident smoothie maker!

*Thunder and lightening made for an exciting day!

Week 3

* After the usual dollhouse and playset time, we made oobleek! This amazing non Newtonian substance is simply cornstarch and water. Add the water a little at a time or it will be too runny.

*We made collages after the manner of Henri Matisse (thank you Science and Art club for the idea!)

*We went for a walk to the park for a picnic. We took the long jump rope and they had fun jumping!

*Snack was yummy apple crisp. The kids always make the snack mostly by themselves. If they can't read the recipe, I read it to them and they carry it out. Today we were grossed out to find a worm in our organic apple! Yuck but funny!

Week 2

It's so fun to see the kids come in the morning! Half of the kids make a bee line for the dollhouse in the playroom and the other half go straight outside to the swing.

I like rhythms to sort of create themselves with some nudging from me where appropriate and its fun to see how things are unfolding. After some free play and settling in, it's time for some hands on stuff.

*We made some homemade salt dough and I put vanilla in one batch and lavender essential oil in the other. The kids sculpted and used cookie cutters to make play dough people and things.

*I read the book Lentil and we talked about grumpy people like Old Sneep. Oh if I only had lemons we would have done some taste bud mapping!

*Our family calls the loooong purple fabric tube the Caterpillar Tunnel. I bought it years ago at a workshop for occupational therapists. It gives great sensory feedback and is so fun! You crawl/wriggle through the tunnel (which is no easy task) and "emerge" like a butterfly out of a chrysalis. The kids stood in line and took turns for 45 minutes!

*For our snack the kids made fruit kabobs on skewers.

*We played with sidewalk chalk in the driveway and the littlest ones and I had fun tossing bean bags.

And it begins!

Our first day together was so much fun!

*I had several containers outside on the patio filled with "treasure". Some of the containers had rice, some had beans and they all had pretty and fun beads buried underneath. The kids had to dig through the rice and beans, find the beads and then thread them on a pipecleaner for bracelets and anklets. When they were done, quite a bit of the rice was used for pretend kitchen/restaurant play which was cool.

*I read The Story About Ping and everyone listened intently to the story. We talked about if it was fair for Ping to get spanked just because he was the last duck on the boat and about consequences. We also talked about why the little boy in the story wore a barrel on his back and they gathered some items for a little buoyancy test.

*We talked about the medium the illustrator used in The Story About Ping and got out the colored pencils. I showed them how the colors were layered in the pictures and they made their own works of art using that technique.

*Our first cooking project was a great success! The kids made soft pretzels and they all did a great job! They used their creativity and made lots of different shapes besides the traditional bow. They tasted yummy, too!

Here's the recipe:

Soft Pretzels

In large bowl, dissolve 1 tbl yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.

Add:

1 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

Add: 1 1/2 cup flour

Knead dough, then divide it among two to four children and let them have their way with it. They can roll little pieces into snakes, then form them into shapes or letters. Place shapes onto cookie sheet, brush lightly with beaten egg, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

~From Mittenstrings For God

*There was lots of outside play on their own and we played Mother May I and Red Light Green Light.

*The dollhouses in the playroom are very popular!

It was a great first day and I hope the kids had as much fun as I did!