Making Carrot Loaf With Mrs. Webb

A big thank you to Mrs. Webb for coming in and spending the morning baking with the children. What a wonderful learning opportunity you provided for the children. 

Parents/guardians- If you wish to come in and show us what your cooking with just send in the recipe and we will be happy to go out and buy all the ingredients needed for your recipe.

Baking and Cooking

The kitchen is the heart of every home, for the most part.

It evokes memories of your family history.

~ Debi Mazar ~

Each and every day is a great day for cooking and baking for our junior chefs.

And each and every day is a day that children should 

help and cook and bake in the kitchen.

 What a joyous coincidence!

 

Pretzels

Chicken soup

 

Pineapple Carrot Muffins

Made with a mother's helpful loving hands.

Pumpkin Muffins made with helpful loving teacher hands.

Each and every day

Is a great day

For children of every age

To be in the kitchen, helping, baking and cooking!

Baking Clay

During the children's recent interest Arctic animals, we offered them the opportunity to sculpt with baking clay.

 

Baking clay is an easy medium for the children to create...

and delivers a powerful learning through play punch!

Children help to measure and mix ingredients. Dry and liquid ingredients change properties and textures. Once made, the children create and sculpt. They show us their thinking and their interests.

They may use books, ideas, imagination. They may add in other materials.

This time, the children sculpted as they looked at images of Arctic animals.

The sculptures were placed on a baking sheet and put in the oven. Once dried and cooled, they were offered paint and small brushes.

A glass vase for cleaning the brushes was an interesting alternative.

Working in a small group offers the children an opportunity for discussion, conversation, observing each others techniques and ideas.

Alivia begins work on her snowy owl and chooses her colours as she looks back and forth at the picture she followed while she was sculpting.

Small details take time, patience and a steady hand.

 

Small muscles and dexterity are key to such an activity.

 

Once finished, the children labeled their masterpieces. 

Another great activity in the wonderful world of kindergarten!

Baking Clay Recipe

2 cups flour

1 cup salt   

1 cup water

Mix

Bake at 300 F for about 1 hour or until dry. Let cool.

*This clay can also be left out in the open to dry. If using loose materials be sure that they are able to be put in the oven...alternatively, set the sculpture out to dry overnight. The thicker the piece, the more drying time will be required.

Camping at Suzuki

Before the weather turned too cold, Mrs. St. Onge set up camp.

After they worked out how the tent needed to be put together,

story-telling, smores, nature walks...even mountain climbing filled the children's day!





Group after group of children camped in the tent and

sat around the campfire.

A campfire is a perfect place to eat smores and tell jokes.

Quiet moments, story-telling and story-reading and comfy cushions.

 The children gathered sticks for the campfire and sticks for their marshmallows.

 



What is a camping trip without insects?

Lara discovered a very unique beetle.

Our nature walk had us 'hiking up to the North Mountain'

with Mia as our lead.

 

Camping season may have ended as the season's change,

but camping stories go on and on.

Baking Clay Creations

The children make baking clay often throughout the year. The recipe of salt, flour and water can be placed in the oven, or left to dry over several days. This day, the children's sculptures were going into the oven.

 

The junior chefs set to work to make the clay while the chat was about the enjoyment of gathering the natural materials that were gathered from the roof top garden. The children became so creative with their baking clay creations with the addition of the natural materials.

 

Was it the trip to the rooftop garden and the children's connection to the natural materials that inspired the children's sculptures?

 

Wings, antennae and many sets of legs emerged in the children's creatures.



Some of the additions transformed the sculptures into 3-dimensional creations that went up and out.

Some of the children represented landscapes as they

shaped and worked with the materials.

Soft and fuzzy wild grasses that had gone to seed were transformed into whiskers.



Dried seed pods became eyes.

The more often the children work with sculpting materials, we notice that the more refined the sculptures become.

 

 Some of the children use their hands to do all the work, and others use tools.

 The trays are filled over and over again. Some of the creations will be painted when they are dried and cooled.

 

 

There are many wonderful things to consider about an activity like this:

 

* We get to see the children's thinking made visible.

* The children gather the materials themselves and start their thinking before they begin their creating.

*The enjoyment of hearing the children talk about their creations and the story-telling that comes along with them tells us what they know.

* The children make the clay themselves.

* The only cost is flour and salt. Water and nature is free!

 

Our Recipe:

1 Cup Salt

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Water

Mix!

Let the children experiment and add more of the ingredients. Happy mistakes will abound!