Finding items that are equal in weight takes these scientists some trial and error.  Using everyday items, the children made a hypothesis on which items are equal in size.  If they are not equal, what can be added to help balance?  The children became very creative in problem solving!

Even though our snow has melted, that doesn’t keep us from building our own snowman!  Today, we made paper mache snowmen.  Mixing equal parts water and flour, the children got ooey gooey by slathering our balloon snowmen with pasty newspaper.  This two-part project has a ways to go.  Next Thursday, we will get to decorate the snowmen by getting ooey gooey again when making them white (shaving cream anyone?!), and topping them off with their proper decorations.  We can’t wait to to see the finished product!

What better cookie to have to celebrate the holiday season than the traditional gingerbread cookie?  Today, the children helped to measure, pour and stir our ingredients.  We discussed wet and dry ingredients, smelled some of the ingredients (molasses anyone?!), and talked about getting the dough to just the right consistency to roll and stamp.  The children enjoyed all of the stirring involved and cracking the eggs, but I think kneading the dough, stamping out the gingerbread, and decorating topped their list!  Everyone brought home a festive, tasty treat!

Thanksgiving is just days away and we have already begun cooking in the Creative Tots kitchen!  Today our little chefs whipped up a delicious pumpkin pie.  As a chef, it is important to know what ingredients you are using, and how much to put in.  Each child helped to measure, pour, stir, and even crack eggs as we made our pie filling.  After pouring the filling into the pie crust, we popped it in the oven and enjoyed the sweet smell.  Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all of the good people and things in your life.  We read a story about the first Thanksgiving, and discussed what we are thankful for and why.  We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The children kept themselves very busy in small groups today with droppers and paint!  We put our fine motor skills to the test with pinching the tops and dropping the paint in just the right spot.  The children were very focused and worked hard to use a steady hand.  Practicing the pinching, letting go, then pinching again, became easier and easier each time.  Once this process was established, the boys and girls were able to focus on how much paint they wanted to suck up in the dropper.  Water color paint can be runny on paper, but the children got an excellent fine muscle work out with this process.

The students were introduced to a recipe in the Tuesday afternoon class and used it along with Ms. Courtney’s help to create their own play dough.  The recipe was sent home and is super easy!  Great idea for a rainy afternoon.

Gingerbread Play-Dough

Ingredients

• 1 Cup flour
• 1/2 Cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Spices--Cinnamon, Allspice, Ginger, Nutmeg

What you do:

Mix the dry ingredients. Add spices a small amount at a time until the dough smells and looks like you want it too. Mix water and oil together first and then add them to the dry ingredients and stir. In a pot, cook the mixture for two to three minutes, stirring frequently. The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the pot and stick together. When this happens, take the playdough out of the pan and knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth. Allow the dough to cool and then store it in an airtight container.