Swirl Cookies

Here is a fun cookie recipe that is perfect for kids and takes some time.
Its a basic sugar cookie Recipe...

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, cubed (I let the kids do it)
  
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Split the dough into two balls, chill for 30 minutes then add 1/4 cup of cocoa to one of the balls. Roll them out into even rectangles...
Lay them on top of each other and roll them up like a cinnamon roll. We added mini chocolate chips then sliced them up into 1/4 inch circles...
Bake at 350 till done, and eat!
They weren't as perfectly round as I would have liked, but they were fun to make and super tasty!

Fall Thumbprint Fun

I have a bunch of neat things for fall. Here is one of them. My sister came for the day (before we headed to NY for Grandma A's funeral :( sad)

I pre-painted the trunk and then we did thumbprint leaves for the trees. Here is how we did it...
Everytime we added a color of leaf we turned the picture so all of the leaves looked different, some sideways, some straight... they were so cute!

Happy Fall!

Racecar Painting

This is a fun activity if you need to get your aggressions out. LOL Just Kidding! Here is what you need. Paint, Racecars, Paper and a smock.

Put the paints in a plate and one car on each blob of paint. Then go, go go!

I let them do two colors and then let them dry.

Here is B's (above)
When they are dry I cut a heart out and then cut the heart shape a little smaller to fit in the hole. Like K's (below)

Then I glued it on a complimentary color like yellow, and then titled it something cute. Isn't this so much better than a blob of paint? I'd like to think so!

Yellow Week Recap

This week I started a new Unit. We are going to hit all of the colors (even though my 3 year old knows them, I am working on my 21 month old to say them correctly)

I have used a few sites. I like to tweak what I see instead of use things verbatim because that is not original and I feel like it is stealing. I never claim to know it all or do it all but I feel really strongly against copying activities, so I will list sources as I use them. A lot of my activities I used when I taught a few years ago and some I have picked up over the years as a babysitter or going from different centers and such. I don't have a special format on how I do things and I don't like the pre-made activities where you copy the image and glue it yourself. All of this stuff is kid tested mother approved! :) Okay off the soapbox.

ABC TEACH yellow
What I used...
Booklet
Word Wall
Letter Y
Yellow WordStrips
What begins with Y mini book
Mini Book 2

We went on a yellow scavenger hunt

We ate an everything yellow lunch

We made a sunflowers because they are yellow

We went outside and learned about day and night and went on a night hike with glowsticks

We went to the Library and brought home some books

Glow Sticks

I found these at Michael's Craft Store for a dollar. You get 15 in the tube and I think they are fun.
Last night we talked about what the sun does for us and what the moon does for us. Then we talked about light and dark. After that "lesson" We ran outside because I was dying to try these out.

I just think this one is funny.

Here we go!

We waved them and played with them for about 40 minutes and they insisted that we go on a nature walk so I grabbed a neighbor kid to stay in my house to watch Scarlett who passed out at 8 so we could go on the nature walk.

Cheap and fun and no clean up! YES!

They both wanted to sleep with them so this morning I found them tight fisted with the glow sticks in their hands. Aww.

Paper Plate Sunflowers

Today we talked about Sunflowers. Partly because they are yellow and partly because they are so interesting. First we drove to the field where they grow by the Reunion Building, and then pulled them and took them home to discuss.

We observed that they were yellow with black in the middle and that the stems were spiky. Then we smelled them.

After that we really pulled them apart to figure out how to make them.

I explained that the black part of the flower made seeds for new sunflowers to grow, and we can eat them too. Here we are trying them.

After that I showed them that the shell is not the part we eat, it is the seed inside. Now it was time to paint.

I have received a lot of questions about how I dry painted things so here is how we do it...

My door is magnetic so I hang them out to dry and it is so fast and GREEN! :P
Once they are dry you cut out the flower shape.

Then glue the seeds and leaves on.

Ta-Da!

Yellow Lunch

My son had a friend over for a swimming play date and we had a yellow lunch!

This what what it consisted of: bananas, ramen, pringles, lemon, pineapples and corn. You could use these items or add some more. I would love to hear what you did.

Then the kids tasted what was in each compartment.

Then we talked about salty, sweet and sour. Then did a little experiment.

Then we charted what eveything tasted like and which ones we prefered.

Thanks A for coming over...it's official you now have to come over for red, orange,green, blue and purple tastings. :)