Tuesday is baking day! Get out the measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, and baking pans. Not only is baking a wonderful sensory experience for children (smells, textures, tastes), it is also a rich opportunity to engage your child in authentic work while they learn about amounts and quantities. Filling your kitchen and home with the delicious scent of baking is also good for the soul!
Ideally, your children will participate in the daily life of your family, supported by the rhythms and activities sent by the teachers. In yesterday’s post we suggested a daily rhythm similar to the structure of our day in Nature Kindergarten. We encourage each family to use this material in the way that works best for them. Some families may use everything we send, and others may use a little here and there. Both approaches are right, and no one needs to feel guilty if they are not using everything we share – you know best what your child needs in this difficult time. We’re here to support you!
Good morning dear Earth, and good morning dear Sun
Good morning to the rocks, and dear bushes every one
Good morning to the bears, and the birds in the trees
Good morning to you, and good morning to me.
MORNING ADVENTURE
Tricky March - just when you think Mrs. Thaw has come to stay, Jack Frost comes back for a visit blanketing everything with snow again! Your child was probably more excited to see the snow than you were this morning! Whether there is still snow on the ground or not tomorrow morning, a ‘mud kitchen’ (or snow kitchen - as the case may be) is always a great way for children to interact with the natural environment. It is simple to set up in your own backyard and you can easily take a few items ‘to-go’ on your morning adventure.
MUD / SNOW KITCHEN
Here are some materials that are useful to when setting up a mud kitchen:
spoons of different sizes
butter knife
mixing bowls (metal is preferable to plastic because plastic cracks and is more easily weather-worn)
old pots and pans
measuring cups and spoons
old baking trays, loaf pans, muffin tins
a sieve
potato masher
pitchers
old tea teapot or kettle (enamel or metal)
tin containers to store ‘ingredients’ in
Your child will make the most of whatever you are able to provide. Whether you end up in your backyard or on a trail, ‘ingredients’ can be found anywhere.
I AM MAKING COOKIE DOUGH
I am making cookie dough
Round and round the beaters go
Add some flour from a cup
Stir and stir the batter up
Roll them, cut them nice and neat
Put them on a cookie sheet
Bake them , count them 1, 2, 3
Serve them to my friends for tea.
RECIPE
Traditional Lemon Bread for Spring Equinox
PREP TIME || COOK TIME || TOTAL TIME
20 min 1hr 15min 1hr 35 min
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
4 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (1 medium lemon)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter softened
3 eggs (large)
3/4 cup milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
Pre-heat oven to 350° (180° celsius), grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 1/4 cups sugar, add the softened butter and with a pastry blender blend until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
In a small bowl add eggs and beat lightly with a fork add milk and mix until combined, then pour this mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until flour is moistened.
In prepared loaf pan add the batter and bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours (or until tooth pick comes out clean). Cool then move to a wire rack.
In a small pot add 4 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar, over medium heat, stirring constantly bring to a boil until thickened. With a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the bread. Enjoy!
Thank you to Cantata Elixir for the recipe.
MOTHER GOOSE TIME
In the Nature Kindergarten, we have a circle time devoted to playing with language and rhymes. We often incorporate movements and actions as we say the poems and rhymes. We start our circle by saying the Mother Goose verse in the audio file below. At the end of our circle we ‘fly’ Mother Goose away with a closing verse. Working with these resources at home, you could add a Mother Goose time into your story time or in a transitional moment in your day.
Work with your child to think up with actions to represent the words in the poem.
Every week we introduce a new Mother Goose rhyme for the letter of the week. This week’s letter is U. We use this as an opportunity to practice keeping a beat by clapping our hands, stomping our feet, or patting our thighs.
TONGUE TWISTERS
This is a fun way to interact with the letters and their sounds. The children enjoy saying them over and over getting progressively faster. They also enjoy committing them to memory over the week and having the opportunity to ‘perform’ them to their classmates and teachers. We often use simple actions as we say the tongue twisters.
This week there are two to practice:
SHORT U SOUND:
Fuzzy-wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy-wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy-wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy was he?
LONG U SOUND
A Tudor who tooted the flute
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot
Said the two to the Tudor
“Is it harder to toot,
Or to tutor two tooters to toot?”
We end our day with this verse during our closing circle:
Brave and true, I will be
Each kind deed sets me free
Each kind word makes me strong
I will fight for the right
I will conquer the wrong.
CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY
You have the opportunity to connect with other parents and families on the Nature (home)School journey through a private Facebook group. The digital forum is a place where you can post photos of the activities that you get up to with your children, share stories or inspirations from your outdoor adventures, and connect with other families. Please follow the link to connect with other families in the online community or from Facebook - search: Nature (home)School Support.
We are a very small Not For Profit School. If you like these resources and find them helpful, please consider making a donation to our Nature Kindergarten program. We appreciate your support!