Friday, February 25, 2011

Pollack inspired splatter art

Today we studied our last great artist of the month, Pollock. To finish our studies we made paintings inspired by his work; splatter art!

Splatter art

To make these we took toothbrushes and dipped them in paint. Then while holding the brush slightly above the paper they ran their fingers along the bristles making the paint splatter everywhere. The kids LOVED this activity but be warned, it can get extremely messy!
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Monday, February 21, 2011

Beet muffins

These are one of the kids favorite foods right now.. Sorry I dont have a picture, been too busy nursing my sick little guy back to health to actually get to the creation of food yet but i thought i would share the recipe anyways and add the picture later!

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 3/4 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 398-mL can beets, rinsed, drained, patted dry

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

  • 1/4 cup safflower oil

  • 1 egg

  • 1 tsp vanilla

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (see the end of the recipe for a substitution if you dont have buttermilk on hand)


  • Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cups or spray with oil (Usually i end up using mini muffin tins to make these for the kids instead of just 12 big ones). Stir flour with cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Purée beets in a blender or food processor. Beat sugar with oil in a medium-sized bowl, using an electric mixer, until combined, 2 min. Beat in egg, then beets and vanilla. Gradually beat in one-third of flour mixture just until blended, then half of buttermilk. Repeat additions, ending with flour mixture. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake in centre of oven until a cake tester inserted in cupcakes comes out clean, 20 to 25 min. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 min, then remove cakes to a rack to cool completely. Normally I just leave these plain for the kids but you could put icing on if you feel like it.

    If you dont have buttermilk, this is the substitution i always use. Take just under a cup of milk and mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into it and wait for 5 minutes and then just use like buttermilk. Works great!

    Happy baking!

    Wednesday, February 16, 2011

    February fun

    Ok so things have been busy so here's just one big post of random fun :)Sensoryfeb This bin is full of big, medium and small pasta tubes, straws, toilet paper tubes, pom poms, felt numbers and scoops. This is great for teaching about size relations, numbers and scoopingWall 1 This shows our shapes, colors, letters and words from our word family of this monthDenzel our artist calendarWeather Vincent van gogh weather chart.. I will post a link to where I got this from when I remember where it came from. We move the village each day to the sky that matches the sky outside the most And last for now....... BlogBooster-The most productive way for mobile blogging. BlogBooster is a multi-service blog editor for iPhone, Android, WebOs and your desktop

    Monday, February 7, 2011

    Picasso - blue period crafts

    Blue period

    To start our blue period day we made these paintings... I chose this picture as I knew it was a Picasso image the kids were all familiar with.. We used a variety of mediums to color them in, the kids were amazed that the paint just rolled off the crayons

    We also talked about how colors can change our emotions... Each of kids did a picture on this...Picasso colors

    The kids already knew picassos blue period was started because his best friend died which then brought up a philosophical debate on death.. I stayed back and observed this debate, wanting to allow their ideas to flow freely between each other without adult interruption.. After a lot of talk about nothingness, heaven and death the kids decided they don't want to die yet but they all think they will go to a happy place after... It's amazing the conversations the kids can have, sometimes it does not sound like a group of preschoolers in here!

    Picasso - blue period crafts

    Blue period

    To start our blue period day we made these paintings... I chose this picture as I knew it was a Picasso image the kids were all familiar with.. We used a variety of mediums to color them in, the kids were amazed that the paint just rolled off the crayons

    We also talked about how colors can change our emotions... Each of kids did a picture on this...Picasso colors

    The kids already knew picassos blue period was started because his best friend died which then brought up a philosophical debate on death.. I stayed back and observed this debate, wanting to allow their ideas to flow freely between each other without adult interruption.. After a lot of talk about nothingness, heaven and death the kids decided they don't want to die yet but they all think they will go to a happy place after... It's amazing the conversations the kids can have, sometimes it does not sound like a group of preschoolers in here!
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    Chocolate banana pudding

    The boys and i have found our new favorite treat.. Chocolate banana pudding!Chocolate banana pudding

    To make this we sliced bananas and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours to chill.. Use 3 -4 bananas.. Then add 4 tbsp of cocoa powder, 1/4 cup of milk, 1 tbsp of vanilla and sugar to taste (we used about a tbsp)... Blend it all together and serve immediately... Delicious and the kids are eating healthy treats!
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    Friday, February 4, 2011

    Self portraits #1

    We started our artist month out today by making self portraits.. This is our first self portrait of the month, at the end of the month we will make another one to compare the first one to.. I think it will be interesting to see how much their pictures change after studying various artists

    R and E's self portraits
    R made the green one and E made the orange one.. The entire time they worked they were in front of a mirror.. It was cute watching them staring at themselves trying to get the details right.. Even though they look simple these drawings took half an hour of concentration!
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    Thursday, February 3, 2011

    Chinese new year

    The kids have been having a great time learning about china and Chinese new year.. To celebrate we started by making fortune cookiesFortune cookies

    Unfortunetly I think our batter might have been a bit too thick, they just didn't spread quiet right which made them fold funny.. I love the fortunes the kids came up with:
    - you come from the future
    - you come from the hospital
    - I come from home
    - there is a fishy in your future
    - there is a monkey in your future
    - in the future you will go to the wiggly circus

    We also made Chinese dancing dragons Chinese dancing dragon

    I think the kids liked this new year more then our actual new years.. They love the fact that Chiba gets dragons in their new year :)
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    Wednesday, February 2, 2011

    Groundhog day

    I thought I would take advantage of groundhog day to teach the kids about how shadows are made.. So after we finished talking about groundhogs (the kids thought it was hilarious to know groundhogs wake up 2 - 3 times a winter to use the potty) we discussed shadows and I presented this game to the kids.. Shadow matching

    I found this game through http://www.kidscanhavefun.com

    I love that each animal has it's letter with it to teach letter sounds.. I also used that to incorporate a self checker.. The back of each shadow has the letter of it's animal on the back

    Now to just hope spring comes early!
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