Springtime Flowers!

I have to admit, I use Pinterest.  I love it!  There are so many great ideas, I get excited and want to try them.  For Easter I wanted to make flower shaped sugar cookies, however, I ran out of time.  So I was thinking we would make them this week which inspired the theme Springtime Flowers! Another recipe I have been waiting to make are Apples in a Blanket.  I thought I could tie that into the theme as well.  Also, the recipe that has been around forever, Dirt Cake. 

I know this all sounds delicious yet not so healthy.  I have a big sweet tooth so all of this sounds really good to me!  Actually in my efforts to eat better and live a better lifestyle, I have been reading many articles about coconut oil.  It is amazing how one oil can provide so many healthy aspects.  I was eager to try it so as soon as I finished the oil I already had, I purchased coconut oil.  I was very excited to bake this week so I could try my new oil.  I think it is pretty neat that I can use one item in many ways, in place of butter on toast or oil for baking and cooking.

We began with the Dirt Cake, we discussed how plants need soil to grow.  Our garden has a lot of soil so we can plant our vegetables.  We added gummy worms to our Dirt Cake because worms help our soil get nutrients it needs for plants to be helathy and grow properly.  We also discussed composting.  I did a project way back about composting and all the benefits.  Since I have a garden of my own I compost as much as I can.  The children came up with ideas on their own about what could be composted.  W said, "Cucumber peels."  M said, " apples." L said, "eggs."  Which I only compost the shells!  After making our list of composting ingredients we moved onto the next step, flowers. 

We made our flower sugar cookies and discussed what flowers need in order to grow.  They all were able to tell me that flowers need soil, seeds, water, and sun to grow.  As we were placing the cookies on the cookie sheet we named the parts of the flower.  Each flower has roots in our healthy soil, a stem, leaves, and petals.  We named different colors of flowers and discussed how bees help flowers and how they attract butterflies. 

W rolling a ball to dip in colored sugar.

While the cookies were baking they drew in their cooking journals.  They drew how flowers grow and what they need to grow.  After that they enjoyed a flower cookie!  Some of the flower cookies didn't exactly look like flowers.  As M said, "They look like butterflies!"  But it is not about the end product and how it looks, it is about the process and what we learned.  At least that's what I tell myself so I don't feel bad! 

Cookie Time!

Now for the Apples in a Blanket!  I love apple pie but do I really need a whole pie?  I don't think so.  So these are perfect!  Individual apple pies!  So quick, so easy, and so delicious!  While the children were taking turns adding ingredients or cutting apples we talked about where apples come from and how they grow.  We looked at the seeds.  Every time we eat a food with seeds L brings it to my attention.  So now we have two categories:  some seeds you eat and some seeds you don't eat.  I had the children categorize some seeds into the two categories.  I hope this helps so she doesn't keep picking cucumber seeds out or strawberry seeds off! 
We rolled our apples up and baked them.  At lunch time we tried one and let me just say a little bite of yummy deliciousness! 

Apples in a Blanket before being baked.

A lot of baking but so much fun and I am glad I was able to use coconut oil and try that.  I think the children will have a better understanding of soil and plants when it comes time to plant our flowers and vegetables.  As usual I will keep my ears open to listen for conversation about flowers.  For now I am going to go eat!

Flower Cookies:

Make a sugar cookie.  Roll into balls then dip into color sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and using scissors slice the cookie to make the petals.  Bake according to your sugar cookie recipe.  We only sliced our cookie twice making four petals.  The recipe I found cuts their cookies three times making six petals. 

Apples in a Blanket:

I buy pie crust so you can buy your pie crust or make your own.

I used two tart apples Granny Smith.  Peel the apples and then with an apple slicer cut the apples.  Pour a little lemon juice on them so they don't turn brown.  Then cover them with cinnamon and sugar.  I used 1/3 cup sugar and one teaspoon cinnamon.  Roll those apples around and cover them good. 

Roll out the pie crust and place an apple on it.  Cut a strip of pie crust and roll the apple up until it is completely wrapped then cut the pie crust strip. 

Our crust completely covers the apple.  From looking at this again cut the strip narrower so the apple sticks out on the ends.  You will get more strips this way.  Just roll the apple until the crust meets then cut it so you can place another apple.  After the apple is wrapped roll it in the cinnamon sugar mix and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees until they are golden brown.  Let them cool a little on the pan and then remove them and enjoy them!

Farm animals!

Awhile ago we discussed gardening and what types of food grows in gardens and what types of food comes from animals.  Today we made pigs in a blanket, drank milk, and ate hard boiled eggs.  We discussed farm animals more.  We made the animal sounds and talked about the animals and what they provide for us.  Cows give us milk and meat, pigs give us meat, chickens give us meat and eggs. 

Will has been working on rhyming words.  So during the farm animal discussion we were practicing rhyming words to the farm animal.  Cow, ow, wow. Pig, wig, twig. Sheep, heep, steep. Morgan loves to rhyme and Will is doing very well.  He names a rhyming word.  Morgan thinks of her own rhymes throughout the day.  Lydia counted the Pigs In A Blanket for us, counting up to eight. 

They loved the Pigs In A Blanket and ate more than one!

I am looking forward to gardening this year and teaching way more than growing plants.  Will, Morgan, and Lydia are understanding where and how we get our food.  They make the connection while eating and while grocery shopping.

Easter!

Since I am not using this blog for school anymore I thought I would add our Ressurrection Rolls to the blog.  I like reading Bible stories to the children and teaching them about Jesus.  When I found this recipe on Pinterest I knew I needed to make these with the kids. 

We used cresent rolls, marshmallows, melted butter, and cinnamon and sugar to learn about Jesus' resurrection.  The marshmallow represented Jesus, the butter represented the oil people put on Jesus, the cinnamon and sugar were the embolming spices.  They placed the marshmallow on the cresent roll and wrapped it up.  We placed them in the oven for 12 minutes and when they came out we had a surprise!  The marshmallow was suppose to disappear representing Jesus had risen.  However, the marshmallow just fell out of the roll and was a nice glob next to the rolls! Maybe we didn't have them closed tight enough.  No big deal, we still ate them and discussed what had happened.

The kids were really engaged in this and learned what had happened to Jesus.  They were able to see and understand what we were saying.  Since they saw what happened it made the story clear and they asked many questions that I tried my best to answer. 

I had so much fun with this I am going to make this with the Vacation Bible School children this summer.   Apparently I didn't take any pictures because I can't find any on my camera! 

Birthdays!

The Birthday Girls!

This was quite a week!  When I finally made it to Thursday I was excited to begin making birthday treats for Morgan and Lydia's birthday party.  Lydia chose Minnie Mouse for her theme and Morgan chose Tinkerbell.  We started by making chocolate covered pretzels with green and purple sprinkles (Tinkerbell).  During this I watched their fine motor skills and coordination.  Will and Morgan made the pretzels and I noticed their fine motor skills increasing.  Their pincer grasp is working very well so they are able to hold a pencil and write. 

We also tried to make Minnie Mouse Oreo cookies on sticks, however, it's trickier than it looks.  We were able to count during this activity.  How many were successful? How many fell apart? 

We made colorful cupcakes so Lydia would be able to practice her colors.  The girls chose purple for one of the colors.  Since we didn't purple food coloring this gave us the opportunity to learn about mixing colors. So we added red and blue food coloring and stirred.  Magic...purple appeared and there were gasps around the kitchen! 

Including the children in the  baking for their birthday party heightened the anticipation for the party.  They were so excited and proud of what they have made.