Fruit Salad ABCs

For Valentine's Day the families were asked to bring a piece of fruit to share 

in a fruit salad.

As an extra challenge I asked them to bring a fruit that starts with 

one of their initials.

Here's mine "Wagner's Watermelon"

"McLean's Mango"

"Strussi's Strawberries"

"Riley's Raspberries"

 "Abbi's Apple"

"Mira's Mandarins"

(When she arrived she informed me that they are oranges but

they are called mandarins.)

Some names were harder to match to a fruit.

 So I found this chart through a google search

and left it on the table.

It created great conversation.

Are an avocado and an eggplant really fruit?

And are jujube candies made from Jujube fruit?

With our fruit salad we enjoyed pink heart shaped pancakes.

 

Valentines and More Play Trays

 Magnetic Xs&Os

I was happy to see that families still play this game.

 Button colour sort.

Love these little Nutella bottles.

One for everyday of the week,

and for sharing.

 Wooden peg dolls

 with matching coloured pots.

Great size for little hands and big imaginations.

 Heart hole punch with paint chip cards.

The cards with holes make nice Valentine cards.

Then the little hearts were added to the art table.

Tray Play Week #5 & 6

Here are some of trays from the past two weeks.

 

Ladybugs to sort and clip on the edge of  the box

or to each other.

Pinching marbles and moving to suction cups.

Building towers with groundhogs.

         

Another great thrift store find.

Matching cards - I cut cards 1-6 (hearts) in half.

Sorting shapes and making patterns.     

                

 

Counting hearts into containers or with other beads that were available.

 

Constructing with various shaped blocks.

Cheese Crackers = Yum

We made our own cheese crackers this week.  

We made them heart shaped instead of the traditional fish shape.

They are delicious.

 I made the dough at home, 

mainly because I didn't feel like bringing my food processor to school.

 The children rolled out dough and cut it.

One recipe makes a lot of little hearts.

Here is the recipe thanks to Clarion Wren blog.

Ingredients:
6 ounces (1 1/2 cups coarsely grated) white cheddar - I used almost 2 cups of mixed white and orange
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8-1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all of the ingredients in the food processor.  Mix until forms a ball - this didn't happen so I finished by mixing by hand.
Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes
Place between waxed paper and
Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick.
Use any shaped cutter that you wish - we used hearts for Valentines.
Place on greased baking sheet - I used parchment paper.
Bake the crackers on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are barely browned at the edges.  For the last few minutes I flipped the crackers so they would be nicely browned on both sides.

They smell and taste fantastic. Families were taking the recipe home to try.

 

Shiny Hearts

We made these shiny hearts using sweetened condensed milk

and food colouring.

 We used paint brushes that made great puddles.

 And q tips to make finer details.

The thick milk encouraged each child to slow their painting.

 Watching it drip.

Making dots and trails.

Then there is the one that loves to get totally involved

in her painting.

And leaving her mark.