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.

Pet Store Dramatic Play

For the past month we have been having fun with animals.

It started with a visit to the pet store to buy fish.

 As we were shopping we had a scavenger hunt to find other pets in the store.

We found

 guinea pigs,

 spiders,

 lizards,

and dogs.

Back at school we opened our own Pet Store.

Here are a few highlights.

 Little creatures - snakes, spider, turtle and

a chameleon.

 Our five new fish all have names.

Welcome Fin, Sparkle, Goldie, Lox and Fred.

The shelves were stocked with animals, leashes, grooming materials, carriers, etc.

A dog and a horse that are pregnant and ready to give birth.

A singing bird that is fed bird seed and worms.

The dogs are fed daily.

And taken for walks.

All of our pets are well loved.

The cashier was busy.

Prices were listed daily.

This week we will be visiting a veterinarian.