More Apple Week Fun

(43 Months)

I apologize for the long delay in between posts, I didn't have access to my computer for about three weeks.  It's amazing how much I rely on using my computer.  Not once, did I put a pen in my hand to document what we've been doing.  I mistakenly believed that I would remember everything!  Who was I kidding?  I can't even remember bits and pieces from yesterday.

Wild One keeps saying how much fun homeschool preschool is!  Yay!  He asks to do work.  We are having fun while we are learning.  Some work has a lot more concentration needed, especially as in the the following art/fine motor project.  The goal was to use scissors to cut pieces of paper to make a collage apple.

I made the mistake of giving each of the kidabunks a full sheet of red construction paper.  It was too cumbersome to work with.

 Ok, quick game change- I drew a grid on the paper and cut it into strips.

Ahhhh, much better.  The smaller strips are easier to cut, and the lines provided the needed guide on where to cut.

I should have provided bowls for each color of paper, because the next step now involved sorting the paper bits by color.  Little Miss didn't mind, she likes this type of activity.

We spread the glue on the apple form which I got from Learn Create Love, thank you Kimberly.  Then they placed the red and yellow pieces on the apple.

Little Miss's apple is on the left and Wild One's is on the right.  They were so proud of their work.

Apple Picking and Placing.  We used tweezers to carefully place red pom poms, apples, on the circles.

Literature Connection.  After reading The Apple Orchard Riddle, we went searching for the hidden star. Did you know that there is a hidden five pointed star inside an apple?  When you slice an apple in the middle horizontally, you will find the hidden star.  They were so excited to see the star.  "It's really there!"

Hidden Apples.  We played Muffin Tin Numbers a lot last year.  Today, we are going to call them apples, and they are going to go apple picking.  Instead of picking the apples off the tree, this time I hid the apples around the room and they needed to find the apples and put them in their respective tins.

After they played find-the apple, we placed the apples on a tray and they worked together to put the apples making in number order.

Apple Pancakes.  Smitten Kitten posted this recipe almost five years ago!  I just discovered it on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and as soon as I saw it, I knew we would be making a batch.  The three of us love working together in the kitchen.  Muffins, pancakes, cookies, cakes, waffles, homemade Larabars...  Creating delicious goodies is one of our favorite things to do together.  

Wild One was pretending he was putting on a cooking show.  He was narrating what he was doing.  "Mommy, do you know what would be a good idea?  Putting chocolate chips into our pancakes!  Isn't that a good idea?"

Wild One is fascinated with chefs.  He goes right up to them and says, "Hi Chef!  What are you making?"   

He's constantly coming up with different flavor combinations.  He will come up to me all excited, using his hands for emphasis, "I have a GREAT idea!  We should make chocolate muffins with peanut butter and chocolate chips!  Is that a good idea?"  Ummmm, yes!  Let's make that now.  

They are developing so many skills while following a recipe:  concentration, patience, hand-eye coordination, impulse control, fine motor skills.  It's not just fun, it really is a wonderful learning (and bonding) activity, plus it's tasty science (they can see both physical and chemical changes taking place).   Pinterest has so many boards listed with delicious and healthy kid recipes, here's my board to give you a selection to start from.  Have fun!

Thank you Aunt Catie for the wonderful fun-box of apple goodies!  They were excited to pull out each item.  The NYC tube of toys was by far one of their favorites.  It made me a little sad to have to explain what the figurines were though.  They are 3 1/2 and have never been to NYC, shame on me!  Wild One kept asking, "What's that funny looking car?"  "Why is there an apple with the train?"  "What's that (the Guggenheim)?  I need to convince a very reluctant someone to let me bring them to NYC and back home to Long Island.  

They loved the giant Scholastic posters.  Wild One began pointing out the parts of an apple.  "Wait!  I need my pointer."

 

I was surprised to see that all they needed was gentle guiding to color the apple poster (I asked, what color do you think you color the "y" apples, how did you figure that out?).

Aunt Catie almost blew Little Miss's mind with the bar of chocolate covered bacon.  "Mommy, that's what I said!  How did they do that?"  Leave it to Aunt Catie!  Little Misswanted to eat right through the box of chocolate covered bacon pancakes.  

When they saw the menu of Chobani creations, Wild One asked if we can make those.  Well, look in the box, Aunt Catie sent you two Chobani creation bowls!  Thank you so very much.  That was so sweet of you Aunt Catie.  We love you :-)