And I documented the entire process. Well, most of it anyhow. See, it’s algae week in marine biology and one of his assignments was to make something edible from seaweed ( He has the wackiest teacher ever, you know). So Superboy decided to learn to make sushi. It’s something he’s been wanting to do for a long time now, and this was the perfect excuse. He found a recipe and instructions online, made a list, went shopping, and the next day was ready to”roll” (oh, I crack myself up, I tell you!)
Well, that rolling turned out to be quite a process!
He had to cook the rice…
chop the veggies…
slice the tuna and crab…
spread the rice on the nori…
spice it up with a little wasabi paste…
layer the meats and veggies…
roll it up…
slice it up…
step back to admire those pretty little circles of deliciousness…
serve it (place setting for two, please) with pickled ginger, soy sauce, and a bit of wasabi…
Who knew you could learn so much just by preparing a simple snack for your family?
Maria Montessori, that’s who. I guess that’s why it is a tradition in Montessori schools for children to prepare snacks for themselves and others.
This week JackJack very much enjoyed preparing some peanut-butter-and-banana crackers for our mid-morning snack. Here are his materials, all laid out in a kid-friendly fashion:
Stage one ready to go. And on to the preparation:
Lessons learned:
how to spread with a knife (fine motor skills)
handling crackers gently so they don’t break –we only had one casualty! (ditto)
we don’t lick our fingers while preparing snack for others, despite it being so hard to resist! ( personal hygiene, grace and courtesy)
arranging crackers on plate so they all fit (spatial awareness)
Stage 2, cut the banana into rounds and put one atop each pb cracker:
Lessons learned:
slicing banana (fine motor skills)
make slices even– not too thick, not too thin (visual-spatial awareness)
one round per cracker (one-to-one correspondence)
we still don’t lick those fingers! (ahem)
Last stage, serve crackers to family and self:
Sorry, no picture here, but he carefully carried the plate around to each of us while practicing saying “Would you like a snack?’” and “You’re welcome.”
Lessons learned:
Carrying plate of crackers (balance and coordination)
Serving crackers (Service to others)
Saying “Would you like some snack?” and “You are welcome” (grace and courtesy)
Pride in a job well done!
Snack time. Tasty and educational! So many reasons to make it an integral part of your day!
Oleander(Nerium oleander), one of the most deadly plants in the world.
Every part of this plant is extremely toxic and ingesting even a small amount can cause severe illness or death to humans and livestock. I once knew a horse that dropped dead when a few tasty oleander leaves blew into his pasture from a neighboring yard during a storm. Oleander ingestion causes hundreds of human poisonings and multiple deaths every year in the US alone. Children have been poisoned from making whistles of the stems. Yet it is widely planted on roadsides and even in schoolyards (!!!!!).
How lovely.
Oleander is beautiful. It is drought-tolerant. It is deadly.
It is one of our favorites because of the bright, beautiful illustrations, and the ocean theme.
We took a pack of blank puzzles I had stashed for ages and we each chose a picture to copy onto the puzzles. We decided that our Prismacolor markers would be best to show off the bright colors. We really liked the results:
JBug’s coral crab:
Superboy’s triggerfish:
My king angelfish:
This was a very quick, easy, rewarding little activity to do. The blank puzzles come in a pack of 6 from Michael’s or JoAnn for less than 5 bucks, I think. You could put them in little decorated boxes or little drawstring bags for a sweet home-made Christmas or birthday gift. I think I will spray ours with a little clear top-coat to protect them, but that wouldn’t be absolutely necessary.
I know it’s supposed to be “blue” bird of happiness, but isn’t this just the happiest little picture?
JBug was playing around with our new brayer (thanks to inspiration from one of my favorite art blogs, Daisy Yellow) and created such a lovely, colorful background! I knew it shouldn’t go to waste, so I suggested she find a picture to cut out and glue on. She sifted through her old issues of My Big Backyard and after a little cutting and a little ModPodge she has a picture that just sings with happiness! I can’t wait to find just the right corner for it to brighten!
"Life has loveliness to sell, all beautiful and splendid things, blue waves whitened on a cliff, soaring fire that sways and sings, and children's faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup."
Sara Teasdale
