Little Chefs

Kids love to cook! We have measured, stirred, cranked and spread while learning how to make some our favorite foods. The children learned about measuring and following a recipe while making chocolate chip cookies with Miss Dawn on Monday. I understand the kids were not very good about sharing the cookie they got to take home! Miss Talacey came back on Tuesday and we played with chop sticks and made fried rice and pot stickers. Wednesday we learned how to make noodles with a hand-crank pasta machine. The children had their choice of butter or spaghetti sauce (because we know some children will only eat "clean" noodles) and ate ALL the pasta they made! Some of our friends made their own "bakery" and were cooking up all sorts of playdough treats for us to enjoy. And didn't you just love the chef hats that the children made with Miss Christi? They were too cute! We ended our culinary week with a Mexican Fiesta. The children made bean and cheese "burritos" (really they were more like quesadillas) and both classes at snack together in Room 100. When I asked the children where chefs work, they told me bakeries, restaurants and at home! Some of their favorite restaurants are Applebees, Red Robin and, of course, McDonalds.

Fried Rice that kids will eat:

3 cups cooked rice

2 TB oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

3 eggs (beaten with a fork)

1/2 cup diced ham or turkey (we use deli lunch meat)

If you are using deli meat, have child use a plastic knife to cut it into small pieces (or they can use clean hands to tear it). Then have child help you break the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork. Have the child measure out the cup of frozen peas and carrots.

The adult's job is to heat the oil in a frying pan or electric skillet. Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with oil and hot. Add the peas and carrots and soy sauce. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Push the rice mixture to the edges and pour the eggs into the center and quickly scramble the eggs. Mix in with the rice, add the meat, heat through and serve. Depending on your child and kitchen set up, the child can do all the pouring and stirring in this recipe as well.

Makes enough for a family of 4.

I Spy With My Little Eye....kids having lots of FUN!

It was so much fun to see so many preschool friends at Summer Blast! It truly was one of our best years - the music was wonderful and the lessons about the great kings of the bible and the armor of God were really great.

We came back after Summer Blast to Week Four of Summer Session: I Spy. Miss Pat and Miss Chris started the week off with a discovery hunt using photos of everyday school items like chair legs and the bark in the playground and playing a fabulous three-dimensional I Spy game that challenged the children to look very carefully! More fun science experiments followed, like name the mystery food and the infamous egg drop. We all learned that concrete is very hard! It was finally warm for Water Day and we all took advantage of the nice weather to really enjoy getting wet! Miss Pat and the children had a free-for-all water war. Miss Pat had the hose but the children had an arsenal of water bombs. Good thing Miss Pat dries off quickly! We ended the week with lots of red, white and blue art as we got ready to celebrate America's birthday on the 4th of July.

Miss Talacey was gone this week on vacation and we were glad to have Miss Sandrea with us. We also welcomed a new friend this week, Elijah Baum. His mom is Brandy so be sure to say hi.