pizza - Feb 26th

We began the morning in Centers. At first the kids were in the Cooking center. Riley was busy making some noodles, Carsten some rice, and Anneclaire taking out the food in the basket. Carsten asked Riely if he wanted to add some baking powder to his pot. Riley thought that was a good idea. Carsten passed out spoons to everyone so that they could cook properly. He was getting a bit too vigorous with his cooking, and Riley decided that he'd rather work in the Block center. Once he was settled and working away, Carsten was ready to paint in the art center.

Riley was very industrious building "tunnels."

Carsten was interested in mixing the colors and then wanted to draw "sharks, and Nemo, and Dori fish."
Riley began building a grid pattern.

Anneclaire enjoyed the blocks and cooking pieces.

Soon all three kiddos were busy in the alphabet center, exploring the magnet letters.

At first, Riley focused on standing up the letters, and then started to name the ones he recognized.

Carsten organized his letters according to color.

Riley is usually our super star when it comes to clean-up time, but Carsten really suprised me today. I told him he could put the letters away in their pocket by using his stool.

Train time was especially fun today. Riley and Carsten built most of the track themselves, and Anneclaire joined in the play on the tracks for the first time. Carsten even commented that "baby no break!" She was too busy riding her train along the track to take the pieces apart. Hooray :).
After a while, the trains moved to the carpet together. Carsten wanted Riley's train to follow the tracks Carsten was making.

For today's project, we made Pizza. Here is the recipe I found in "Let's Cook a Treat" by Helen Drew and Angela Wilkes:

Pizza Dough recipe

preheat oven to 425

combine in mixer:


1 1/4 cups flour (i used a combination of spelt and quinoa flour)
pinch of salt
3 tbs butter

add 1/2 cup grated cheese,
3-4 tbs milk (i used half milk, half olive oil)


mix until you have a ball of dough. I doubled the recipe and added a bit more salt, milk, and oil, till we had a proper dough.


The recipe makes about 3 personal sized pizzas. Cook for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick you roll the dough).






One of the fun things about making pizza was that the kids could taste test each of the possible toppings as i cut, washed, and got them ready. The boys especially like the olives. Putting them on the tips of their fingers, Riley announced, "poped out!"



We had a lot of fun making the pizza, preparing the toppings, and mixing the dough. The boys love it when i ask them silly questions. They were very good to listen as I explained why I had to cut the mushrooms, olives and red peppers. We went over the whole pizza making process. They seemed to understand :).
The boys helped put the sauce on their dough, chose their toppings, and placed the toppings and cheese on their individual pizzas. It was a lot of fun seeing them taste the vegetables and tell me if they like them. Both were open to trying everything.


During singing time we sang from a library book, "Children's Songbook," by UsBorne books. It has many favorites, "If you're happy and you know it," "My Bonnie lies over the ocean," "Here we go 'round the Mulberry bush," to name a few, and many others that I have never heard of. There is also simple written music that i think we'll try on the piano next week :).

So much to do, so little time, hope the nice weather continues!

maple cookies feb. 20th

Blocks, blocks, blocks on the brain! At lunch I was telling Carl how much I enjoyed watching the kids play with the blocks. There was a learning process going on that I hadn't a part of, and it was probably better learning than I could have taught them myself. Ususally, when Carsten plays with his blocks, he like Carl or I to join in...usually resulting in parental building, and Carsten watching. Today though, Riley, Carsten, Anneclaire, & I all sat at the table playing with blocks. Each of the kids had their own pile and therefore, their own creation. They would build for a bit, and then tell me what they were doing. Then, their idea would cause their playmate to come up with another idea or build on the one suggested. It was really facinating. Here's a little more play by play as to how it went down...



Riley was focused, building a tower of some-sort. He was content to continue to build without communicating what he was creating, until Carsten announced that he was building a train (lining his blocks in a row). Then Riley announced that he was making a tunnel, and would peek through the opennings in the blocks at us. Soon, they were building barns, and "cow barns", "bridges", and "snakes." It was amazing. I just smiled, congratulated them and sat there watching the whole thing unfold. Even Anneclaire seemed interested in what they were doing. Mostly, she just watched and clapped when they had a new creation or made it crash to the table.

During centers, Riley was soo good to make sure everyone had spoons.

Maple Cookie Recipe

1 cup plus 2 tbs unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 1 tbs raw sugar

1 tsp maple extract (I used hard strap molasses)

2 1/4 cups flour (I used spelt)

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Cream the butter and sugar. Add in the remaining ingredients. Roll into small balls and bake for 15 minutes.

We added some frosting from a box that Carsten had found in the store, specifically to cook with Riley. I chose this recipe because there weren't many ingredients, which gave more time to discuss what we were doing, using, etc. They love it when I am looking for something in the fridge and can't find it without their help. :) The other reason for the choice was that lack of eggs. Lately they want to taste everything. This way they can taste some of the dough while the cookies are baking.

I am amazed at how patient the boys are while we cook. We also ate snacks during the cooking event: cheese sticks and cereal. They love to be a part of each step and to hear what comes next. While we were watching the mixer do it's part, Carsten began to sing, "ring around the rosies."

We sat and read together for a bit. The boys wanted to read the "If you give a Pig a Pancake" and "O Sullivan's Stew." Though there were many new books to choose from, they chose familiar books with which they were interested. Both of course have to do with cooking and food :).

During Train time, the boys were busy making tracks in the carpet. They like to make long lines with their trains and then show them to me.

Looking forward to next week!

pancakes feb. 19th

Mornings like this make life fun, interesting, engaging, and meaningful. It was definitely the best session we've had thus far. The boys were so cute...the way they interacted with eachother...the camera just can't capture it.

Centers ran smoothly. The boys started in the cooking center, playing with the pots n' pans. We looked at the empty box of hamburger helper, read the instructions on the back, and the boys acted out my intruction reading. Kind of fun. So save your empty food boxes with instructions and let's do some pretend play:). I put some plastic food nearby but wondered if they would want to add them to their play. Riley answered this question. He found the corn on the cob and decided that it needed some cooking. Later he needed a plate and utensils so that he could eat it properly. Meanwhile, Carsten was supportive of adding the plastic food. He threw in all he could find into the large pot and was very busy cooking. Then he took the muffin pan and used the grater to dump a food item into the pan, one by one. Carsten decided that he needed some water to add to his cooking play. He first poured some in Riley's corn on the cob pan, to which Riley responded, "oh, thank you." They were so cute.





Riley and Anneclaire were then ready to draw in the art center. Riley enjoyed drawing a rainbow, telling me the colors that he chose to use. He was very focused on writing his name, calling out the letters as I helped him write each one. Carsten went to join them and was intent on painting his paper with water. He is more interested at this point in the process of what he is doing than the outcome.


At this point, Riley moved to the block center and started building. Missing his friend, Carsten brought his pan of food and water to the large table and cooked next to Riley the builder. Riley was excited with each new thing he created.

During Movement/Music time, we sang , signed, & moved with the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Give said the little stream", "Here we are together," and the "Snowman song". The boys enjoyed moving like bears, making bear noises. The picture below was taken by Carsten. Not bad :). We also reviewed some of our sign language, "spinning" around the room.


The boys enjoyed a puzzle together. I was impressed with how well they did it together. Carsten would ask Riley where a piece went, they would each point to a spot, Carsten would place the piece and Riley would confirm the action, "yes, right there!" After they did this ritual a couple times, Carsten told Riley that they were to take all the pieces out and make a snake with them, "no, a caterpillar." With the snake suggestion, Riley looked confused, but caught the vision and anwered to the caterpillar suggestion with a resounding, "yes!"

Above: Carsten moving and growling like a bear.

Below: Train time fun...making tracks in the carpet.

The pancake project began by reading the story, If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff. As always, the boys were great help in cooking. They know the routine: they wash their hands and climb on to "their" chair, as Anneclaire sits in her highchair. They love helping me find the ingredients, telling me which are the eggs, flour, salt, etc. It's easy to have them help because they are so good at waiting their turn to add the ingredients. They were anxious to add chocolate chips, this is not a normal ingredient, but, they being the chefs in training, I thought, "why not?" Of course, the boys wondered where the chips went when they tasted their pancakes, for they could not see them after the batter had been through the blender.

Here's the pancake recipe:

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups oats

1/2 cup spelt flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

a handful of chocolate chips

1. First blend the milk & oats, add rest, giving the oats time to soak up the milk.

2. Cook on griddle or pan med heat or 275-300 degrees. There weren't many bubbles, but you can see the batter start to pull away from the pan...a good time to flip the pancakes. They take longer to cook, but are worth the wait!

For Outdoor Time we went for a walk down to see the cows, dogs, goats, and ponies. Riley enjoyed watching his shadow as we walked (wearing his backpack:)). Anneclaire was ready for an adventure...ahead of us most of the time and with no desire to stop walking. Carsten rode his bike, of course. Thanks for a wonderful morning kiddos!

Feb 6th White Bean Oatmeal Cookies

February 6th - White Bean Oatmeal Cookies

Our morning adventure started out in centers:
art center
book tent
blocks
oobleck

The boys spent their time in the oobleck center (cornstarch & water). They had fun feeling the gooey mess and making it change properties. The only problem was that they thought they should be able to eat it. I tried to explain that it was just to play in and that it wouldn't taste good. Well, cornstarch & water may not taste good, but I guess it's not terrible for them to taste :). Carsten started to feel too dirty and wanted to clean up. I think Riley would have played in it for another half hour if he hadn't watched Carsten's hands get washed.

Project Time:

Today we made White Bean Oatmeal Cookies. Hiding beans and other healthy foods in everyday recipes seems to be the new rave, so I thought I'd try this recipe out with the boys.

White Bean Oatmeal Cookies

Sift together & set aside:

2 cups whole grain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 tsp nutmeg

Mix together:

1 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)

1/2 canned white beans (pureed) I pureed mine with the melted coconut oil

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Blend the above with the flour mixture, then add:

2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix well and drop large spoonfulls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (I used tin foil).
Bake at 350 for 15 min (13 was good for mine)



The boys are getting better at carefully pouring each ingredient. Once again, they were great at taking turns. Carsten kept track of who's turn it was and would remind me. They were also great at mixing. Amazing how little mess they made during the process!

Here are a few pictures of our Carpet time, music, and movement. We were dancing like a frog, elephant, & bear. We sang and danced to the "snowman" song again. Riley's favorite was dancing like a frog. He did that almost the entire time we danced like animals. Carsten wanted to do summersalts, and Anneclaire balanced on her head with her hands in the air.


We extended our music time to the piano, where i let them take turns playing. Riley was very excited when I began to sing and pluck the melody to "twinkle twinkle little star" on the piano. He sang along with me and then I took his finger and had him play the melody as we all sang. He then suggested we sing and play the "ABC's" song. Such fun!

Of course we had to sample our cookies at snack time. :). It was another wonderful morning. And Carsten didn't even cry when Riley's mom came to pick him up. Though, he did talk about Riley the rest of the day!