Green Smoothies

So I understand this does look kind of revolting....but you SERIOUSLY have got to try it. Not only is this delicious, it's SOOOO nutritious too!! We had this for our St. Patrick's day snack today and they were a total hit.....after all the kids got over the fact that this snack contains spinach - cool, they were gobbled right up.

Here's the recipe - really you make it to how it tastes good for you, and use whatever fruits you want.

*1 bag of spinach (I used the Baby Spinach)

*one 32 oz vanilla yogurt

*bananas

*mango's

*kiwi's

or any other type of fruit you desire (I used some frozen mango's, strawberries, peaches, and pineapple that came in a pack together)

Now you just blend these together (I used a food processor, but whatever works really)....I blend the spinach first to help compact it down, then add my other ingredients. I also added a little water to mine to help make it a little more runny. You could use milk or juice or something too if you want.

The best thing about this smoothy, is that it is so dang nutritious!! After you get over the green color of it.....it's wonderful, and seriously tastes great!

Now, go make yourself and your kiddos some of this GREAT GREEN GLOP for St. Patricks Day!!

Pretzel Letters!

How can you learn about the alphabet and NOT make pretzel letters?? The kids had blast making the first letter of their names and then being able to eat them!!

Check out this yummy pretzel recipe so you can do it at home or in your own preschool!!

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 TBSP yeast

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

about 7 cups flour

2 TBSP baking soda

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve yeast in warm water and let set until activated. Add brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Add flour one cup at a time until mixture isn't moist. You may need a little less flour or a little more. Let rise for 30 minutes.

Let the fun begin!! Form balls of dough about the size of small fists. Roll dough into a thin rope (emphasis on thin) and twist into desired shape. Have flour available to roll and shape in.

While pretzels are being shaped, boil water and baking soda in a saucepan. Make sure baking soda is dissolved and then keep very warm.

After pretzels are shaped, dip them in the baking soda water and then placed the dipped pretzels on a cookie sheet. You can sprinkle with Kosher salt if you want (I don't like the salt) and then bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. When they come out, brush them with melted butter!!

These really are so yummy!

Valentines Slime

We enjoy getting MESSY in preschool! This slime always seems to be a favorite and really brings the kids together playing and exploring. I figure it's a great way to build our friendships stronger and have fun with eachother. We also talk about opposites...to me slime is an opposite word for Valentines day because slime is yucky and gross and love and friends are fun and enjoyable! To make this stuff, just mix as much elmers glue as you are going to want slime and add your food coloring. Poor in some liquid starch until it's not sticky but slimy and stir it all together. FYI - I buy the gallons of elmers glue. You can get it from Lowes or Home Depot or I'm sure order it from a school catalog.

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Playdough is always a favorite of mine and around holidays and such I always like to give it a twist. For halloween we made one of my favorites.....Pumpkin Pie Playdough.

You make this just the same as usual and add pumpkin pie spice to it. The kids love the smell of it and exploring with it. With this activity I also set out halloween shaped cookie cutters, and I couldn't forget the pie tins (it's a must when the playdough smells like pie!)

Pumpkin Pie Playdough Recipe

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 cups water

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp cream of tartar

pumpkin pie spice

orange food coloring

Combine all of the ingredients in a pot, stir over medium-low heat. Don't let the mixture stick to the pot. Keep stirring and cooking until the mixture looks like mashed pototes - instead of soup. Remove pot from the stove and knead when cool enough to handle.

Ghost Goo

This is always a favorite and we usually have to keep it in our classroom for a couple of days because the kids just LOVE to explore with this stuff!!

This is actually called OOBLECK (most teachers know what I'm talking about), but at halloween time I change the name to "Ghost Goo". The kids think it is soooooo cool and talk can be heard throughout the room about ghosts, goblins, ghouls, witches, and much more.

One boy asked me today, "Do ghosts really leave this behind when they visit you?" I told him that if they were real they just might, but there is really now such thing as ghosts.

So the recipe goes like this (so simple)......cornstarch......water......voila!!! Just mix equal parts of each. This substances so interesting, it hardens when you pick it up and turns to slime in your hands. It really is too fun to play with. Just be prepared to have cornstarch drippings from your messy table to the bathroom.....or keep a tub of water close by for quick rinsing. The nice thing about this stuff is that it cleans up so easily (it's just cornstarch after all). So don't freak out if it gets splattered in a few places....kids will be kids! Happy Haunting!!

Painted Toast

We LOVE painted toast in preschool!! We read the book "Mouse Paint" and then enjoyed painting with the primary colors on our own pieces of toast!! This was a great way to end our day of our Sense of Sight!! If you haven't ever read "Mouse Paint", it's a must and a classic! The 3 mice get mixed up in paint and it shows in a fun way how the primary colors mix and can make new colors. The children were begging to read again after we were done.

So for painted toast, just toast your bread, get 3 bowls of milk and add your food coloring. Give each child a food paint brush, toast, a plate and let them enjoy painting their toast. Yes this sounds kind of disgusting, but seriously, it's a preschool favorite!!

You HAVE to try it!

Classroom Muffins

We made muffins today together and boy were they yummy! Why does it seem whatever is made in preschool seems so much yummier then if it was just made? Even to me it seems that way. These muffins are a very basic recipe and very simple, but every year, the children LOVE them and just can't wait to try and make them at home!! If you are a parent of a child in my class I really encourage you to make these muffins with your child. What a great way to connect the school to home experience together!!

Classroom Muffins

* 1 egg

* 1 cup milk

* 1/4 cup oil

* 2 cups flour

* 1/4 cup sugar

* 3 tsp. baking powder

* 1 tsp. salt

* 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix wet ingredients together in one bowl, dry things in a large bowl. Make a well in the dry bowl and add wet ingredients. Don't stir too much. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes for small muffins! YUMMY!

Playdough Fun

Playdough is another thing that most children are pretty familiar with. I like to start my year out with many things children are familiar with so it's an easy adjustment and they can identify easily with their surroundings. It's nice to have the children come into the classroom saying things like, "Hey, I've done this before." "Here, I'll help you, I do this at home.", etc. I set playdough out often in preschool, but I do change things each time. This time I put out many baking pieces, cookie cutouts, etc. I have also discovered that children absolutley LOVE cutting playdough with scissors. Have you ever tried it? It really is so fun and cool feeling!! Ever since I discovered this, I never set playdough out without scissors. Scissors are a very hard thing to master for young children, and playdough is a perfect way for them to practice without getting frustrated. So, cut...cut..cut!!

I've shared my playdough recipe many times on this site before, but I will share it again, because I LOVE PLAYDOUGH!!!!!!

*2 cups flour

*1 cup salt

*1 tblsp cream of tartar

*2 cups water

*1 tblsp oil

Mix these ingredients all together until it is like soup. You can add food coloring at this time or your choice of koolaid for a fun smell good playdough!!

Cook on Medium heat until it forms into playdough. Remove from pan and knead until it's nice a smooth.

Happy Playdough Playing!!

Colored Rice

Colored rice is always a favorite in the Messy Table. Rice is so small and fun to feel between your fingers. It's just such a great sensory experience that is always a must! The children expecially love to watch the rice poor, fill and twist....oh to be a child again!!

To make....

Put about 2 Tblsp alcohol and your choice of food colorings into gallon ziplock baggies. I do a different batch for each color (obviously). So if you are making 5 different colors, you'll need 5 different bags for each one.

Now put rice into the bag. The more rice you have the lighter color it will be, the less rice you have in the bag, the brighter it will be. I try and make big batches for the messy table, so I make mine on the lighter side.

Now mix and squish the bag until all of the rice pieces are coated. Once you have it mixed to your liking, lay out to dry on a tray or sheet cake pan or whatever else you have that can let the rice dry pretty flat.

Happy rice playing!!

Spring Finger Painting

With spring comes lots of color!! It's so fun to take a look around and see what colors are coming out!! What a better way to celebrate the colors of spring then with some fun and messy and colorful fingerpainting!!

To make this fingerpaint all you need is......

* 1 cup flour

* 1 cup water

* 1 tblsp liquid laundry detergent (this helps it come out easily from clothing)

* food coloring

Stir these ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. Seperate into different bowls with however many colors you are going to use and stir until mixed to your desired coloring!!

St. Patricks Day Green Painted Toast

Painted Toast always seems to be a childs favorite!! I don't know why because it is simply bread painted with colored milk...........but it's sooooo COOL!! When I make this in preschool the kids always LOVE it and ask for seconds.

To make this "kids favorite" snack, just take a piece of bread, a paint brush, and milk colored with your childs favorite color of food coloring. We obviously used green today for St. Patricks Day. Your child can paint his bread however he desires, pop it in the toaster or toaster oven. Then eat it up......and believe me, it will be!!!

St. Patricks Day Green GAK

Slime never gets old. This is another recipe, it turns out a little slimier then the glue and starch.

Recipe:

* 16 oz. white glue

* 2 cups water (halved)

* Green food coloring

* 3 teaspoons Borax Powder

* 1 medium bowl

* 1 large bowl

In the medium bowl, combine the glue, 2 cups of water and several drops of green food coloring. Stir this constantly. In the large bowl, combine the remaining water and the Borax Powder. Stir this until the powder is dissolved. Pour the glue mixture into the Borax mixture. Stir constantly until a glob of GAK forms. Let the children squeeze, knead, aquish, and ooze the GAK between their fingers.

Messy Table Madness

We've had some fun in the messy table with colored rice. Rice is always a favorite because of the great sensory feeling the kids can experience as the rice runs through their fingers and pour them into different containers, etc. The children seem to really love that it is colored........"How did you do that Miss Chelsea??"

You can make colored rice by placing rice in a large ziplock bag and adding about 1 or 2 tblsp. rubbing alcohol and then some food coloring. Mix the rice around in the bag until they are colored evenly. Lay the wet rice out on a cookie sheet or tray to dry. WA-LA!! This is also they way you would color noodles for necklaces or whatever.

We've also had water in the messy table to go with our "firefighter" career day. It's so fun to act out being like a firefighter or policeman. We've had a lot of things going on in our classroom this last few days........I can't wait to be ____________ when I grow up!!

Fruit Kabobs

For snack today we had "Fruit Kabobs". What a better snack to have on "Fruit and Vegetable" day!!

We discussed the difference between fruit and vegetables (young kids have a difficult time distinguishing between the two). We also talked about how healthy it is for us!! The kids loved the idea of eating it WHENEVER they wanted. (I told them they had to make sure it was ok with mommy or daddy first). What is it with giving kids a little and they want it ALL!! They crack me up!

Here are some pictures of our awesome fruit kabobs!! They really enjoyed sticking these fruit pieces on a stick - oh the joy of simplicity of children!

This is the type of fruit we used for our kabobs!!

Yes, we talked about how POINTY these sticks are and that we have to be VERY careful when putting our kabobs together.....no accidents were had!!

Here is what some of the final kabobs looked like - they were so proud.

These were all eaten RIGHT up!!

Ham and Eggs Anyone??

What a better snack to have then Ham and Eggs on "Meat, Eggs, and Nuts Group" Day!! Whenever we have something out of the ordinary, it's not uncommon for a few of the kids to say, "OOOOHHH YUCK!!" I NEVER eat that!!

As I've said before, that we have a rule in our preschool that if we make something as a group, each child needs to try ONE small bite. If they don't like they don't have to eat anymore!

"Try it, you might like it!!" That is the chant that is heard throughout our classroom on snack making day!

This day was no different..........but EVERY child LOVED this snack today!! They all were begging for seconds!!

After reading Green Eggs and Ham at the end of the day, the children were all laughing at them selves because they were JUST like the book!!

Funny kids!

Puffy Paint

On our "Milk and Dairy" day, we had a great time finger painting with Puffy Paint! I figured this paint would be fun to paint on ice cream cone and pie cutouts since it has such a great creamy texture.

Even better, this paint dries puffy and creamy!! It's a wonderful sensory experience along with exploring and creativity!

To make this paint, you just add 2 cups of shaving cream to about 1/3 cup of elmers glue. Add the color of paint or food coloring you want and enjoy!!

Sweet and Slimy!

Hmmmm.....what to do in the Messy Table this week??

SLIME - what could be a better idea? Well, nothing!!

Love can be kind of slimy!

So we mixed this together as a group in the messy table!

Equal parts Elmers Glue and Liquid Starch. We added some fun LOVEY colors!!

The students have absolutely LOVED feeling this all week!!

Friendship smoothies

We got to make Friendship Smoothies today which turned out soooo YUMMY!! The children always love it so much when we get to make our snack together in preschool.

This is just a basic smoothy recipe with a "tweek" in the name! You can use any basic ingredients such as, OJ concentrate, yogurt, bananas, ice, and milk. You can make these as extravagent or non as you would like (using different fruits, etc). We kept with the traditional style.

When we make large group snack we basically take turns measuring, counting, scooping, or pouring in the ingredients. We of course learn the basics of cooking also - wash hands, have an adult there, etc. This is a great way to enhance a variety of math skills as we do this all together. The children are always totally enthralled and they always thing THEIR ingredient is the BEST!

This was how our finished product looked. We have a basic rule in preschool that when we make snack together we all need to take ONE taste, if we don't like it after that one taste, we don't have to have anymore.

The children LOVE our little chant, "Try it, you might like it!" It usually NEVER fails that the kids will eat the whole thing after they've taken the first taste, even if they said they weren't going to like it!! What a great way to explore the different foods we eat and make sure we try new things!

The Recipe Page

On this page you will find snacks and fun recipes that we make in preschool together. When we make snack as a class we do it during large group. This not only gives the children a chance to "cook" or make something new, but it also enchances math skills with measuring, estimating, etc. The children really enjoy stirring, pouring, smelling, and especially tasting!! Miss Chelsea also enjoys things like Playdough, slime, silly putty, etc. You'll find those type of recipes here also. Please check back here often to find new recipes that we've made or are going to make. Kids really enjoy making special treats at home with family, what a better way to do it then to connect it to their day!! ENJOY!!

Recipe For Learning

Take curious youngsters and fold in 1 cup of wonder. Blend well, until the youngsters are ready to explore. Stir in a pinch of imagination. Add a handful of experience and creativity. Blend in a dash of enthusiasm. Serve with 2 tablespoons of interest and sprinkle with fun!

Serving size: 1 classroom