Bee Bread

For Tasty Tuesdays we made some of what Mason calls "Bee Bread" It is of course called that because it has honey in it.
The real name and recipe is as follows....WHO Bread - acoustic style
1 1/4 cup water2 tablespoons honey2 tablespoons butter @ room temperature1 tsp salt3 cups of flour (we do 2 cups unbleached white, 1 cup whole wheat pastry)1/2 cup rolled oats1 tablespoons brown sugar1 tsp cinnamon2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or, one package)
Pour 1 1/4c. warm water (about 110 degrees F), honey, sugar, and yeast into a bowl. Whisk until well combined and mixture is frothy. Set aside to proof while you mix together the other ingredients.In a separate large bowl stir together, flour, butter, salt, rolled oats, and cinnamon.Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture, and mix until thoroughly combined. (I like to do this with my hands.)Place dough into a lightly oiled bread pan. Cover with a damp towel and leave in a warm spot to rise for about an hour (45 min. if you’re impatient!). Punch down dough and let rise a second time for 45 minutes, covered with a damp towel.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove towel from top of dough and place pan in the center of your oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Done!

Schedule

Whatour VERY FLEXIBLE Classroom schedule looks like. A friend ask that I post this because she was curious as to a good routine for her toddler/preschooler. Of course letters and numbers and shapes are all mixed in on a daily basis but this is a basic run-down. Depending on the age you can go as simple or as complex as you would like.

Popcicles

Daddy took the day off so of course any activities Mommy had planned would rather be done with daddy. Made juice stirred, poured into molds and froze (oh yeah don't forget the licking yuck) and Enjoy!

Goin Fishin!

"Goin Fishin"
I picked up a cheap little wooden fishing set made a construction paper pond and taped letters on the back. Anytime Mason caught a fish we would name and talk about the letter. He loved this learning activity so much that I started taping shapes on the back as well. You could also do numbers, or words, etc....This was definitely a hit and something we will do often because Mason enjoyed it so much seriously we sat at the table doing this for almost an hour!

Rain

Portrait of the Rain
Mason has finally gotten into painting! His mommy is very happy since when he was an embryo she dreamed of him being an artist. Unfortunately he will most likely be an athlete but mommy's can dream. This picture made my day as I could truly see what he saw through his painting. Rain dripping down the window...... so beautiful.

D

D is for Daddy!

Numbers

Today Mason and I made a number chart with corresponding concrete objects. I drew numbers on a piece of poster board and then Mason helped me glue the correct number of objects to the number. We used things such as candles, raisins, buttons, noodles, broken crayons, pennies etc... It is now posted on our wall for Mason to continue seeing that numbers represent something concrete so that as we learn to actually "count" it will make more sense to him. (hopefully)

Oobleck

1 cup Water
2 cups Corn Starch
2 drops of Food Coloring (optional)
Play Play Play!

Watch it go from solid to liquid and back again.

Great Science/Sensory activity and very Messy!

Guitar Lessons

Making a Guitar: Cut rectangular hole out of any kind of empty box, place rubber bands around box over hole, cut a round hole out of the top of the box, place paper towel roll in, tape around roll to secure. Play "Stairway to Heaven" as loud as you can!

Citrus

This project was so fun to do with Mason! I bought a couple different types of citrus Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Orange. We smelled the fruit, talked about the color and size and shape. We then proceeded to cut the fruit and juice it with our hand juicer. We put the juice from each fruit into a glass and taste tested it. Hopefully Mason now knows where (Tropicana) juice comes from. It was hilarious to watch Mason's face when he tasted the lemon and lime juice. Later on he made a big mess by mixing all the juices together. Mason loved this activity and I really enjoyed it as well especially the fact that Oliver slept though all of it:)

Zuchini Bread

Yet another lesson in baking today with yummy Zucchini Bread! So many skills encompass baking adding, measuring cracking(math) dumping and stirring, grating (fine motor) smelling and tasting(senses) the list goes on. Baking is one of Mason's favorite activities!

Cupcake Flowers

Some spring flowers made with cupcake holders and a little bit of imagination!

Shadows

We have been reading a book over and over again about shadows..so on a sunny day we took a shadow walk around the neighborhood. We talked about how the sun hits you on one side which creates a dark spot on the other. Many things have shadows squirrels, trees, cars etc... Mason thought it was very fun to chase his shadow and race his shadow down the street. I hope to expand on this by doing shadow puppets on walls at night as well as a shadow box.....until then.