Ready...Steady....Bake!
A baking frenzy took hold of our forest this week. As the chilly air moved in the parakeets have been making use of old pears as well as a bread making machine we haven’t used in a while. The children helped slice, skin and mash very ripe pears, talking about the smells and sights they were seeing as they worked. They worked really hard together as they passed the pulp through a sieve to end up with a lovely, smooth juice. The children, after having practiced so many of their fine motor skills, had worked up quiet the thirst and together with their practitioners they enjoyed a cup of their produce. “It doesn’t quiet taste how I imagined it would” said one child and another added “I don’t remember us putting spice in there?” And so a discussion was had about different parts of the tongue picking up on different flavours!
The cooking interest was continued when educators helped the children find a cake recipe that can be cooked in a bread maker. Ingredients were measured out by little hands and spices were added, mixing and churning took place under the watchful eye of Miranda, Bo, Celine and Rosa. The children were quite amazed that a cake could be baked in the bread machine and they wouldn’t take their eyes off Miranda as she helped cut and wrap individual pieces for the children to take home.
Christmas has suddenly descended in Xiao’s imaginary house in the foxes site and more and more children were inviting themselves in for dinner. With the risk of running out of Turkey imminently, the children helped Xiao make a Tesco food delivery order on a cardboard laptop and low and behold, a fleet of delivery vans arrived, bringing with them armfuls of festive delights. “Here are all the carrots you ordered....here is the chocolate”
Teams of children were on hand to help pack away the imaginary food and hand back the empty crates so the delivery drivers could get back to the supermarket and come back with even more food. Another group of children were trying to assist by cooking the Christmas dinner and pots and pans perched on tree branches that served as imaginary stove tops. “But my mummy doesn’t eat turkey” said one little girl “she wants a salmon!” A large plank served as a platter of Salmon which was then garnished with herbs, salt and and other flavourings before being placed in an oven to accompany the feast!
When not submerged in the hustle and bustle of the home, the children were out creating their own volcanoes. They made papier-mâché and little mountains were soon adorning our craft tables ready for painting. The real fun came when Louise and Tomasz helped the children make explosions with bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and food colouring. The children were making great observations about which volcano exploded the highest and the fastest why the other volcano was reacting a lot slower “it might be shy” was one idea contributed.
Tomasz noticed this interest in the volcanoes and the next day introduced some volcanic rocks and hid them around the forest for the children to find in a volcanic scavenger hunt! The look on the children’s faces every time they found a piece was like a little piece of magic!
Have fabulous weekends everyone and we look forward to seeing you again next week.
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham