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!