September Dates

It has been AGES since I've posted - summer was just too much fun to be inside writing (and I spent time in Maine with no electricity or wi-fi).

I was still busy - as you can read on my beekeeping blog, I've been experimenting with baking brownies with only honey as a sweetener. I kept track of what I did and the results which influenced my next experiment each time. Baking is a really fun way to do science together - you get to make predictions about what will taste good, dive in an test your hypothesis, and then share your results.

I didn't share the results of my first batch of brownies with my families' taste buds, I just told them they were terrible. I was so surprised that there was such a thing as too much chocolate.

Food gives us so many ways to think critically and to do science. We've been growing two kinds of cherry tomatoes and we belong to a local CSA where we picked yet a third variety. We all had one of each color on our plates at dinner, made a prediction about which ones we'd like best, then tasted them. Yum. The three girls liked the orange sunburst the best and the two boys at the table liked the yellow pear tomatoes best.

This month, we will be hosting Messy Fingers at the Millbury Public Library at 10:30 am on

Sept 7 and 21. We will learn about apples and magnets. Please sign up at the library as space is limited 508 865 1181.

Bread - one year later

Last June we explored Bread and I repeated the program again this past June. It was just too much fun not to play with. The original blog is here.

What I really loved about doing bread was that it inspired so many parents to try cooking with their kids. Cooking is just edible science. Baking is the most yummy chemistry you will ever try with your kids.

Bread is really not as intimidating as you might think. You can use the basic bread recipe to make pizza dough or turn it into bread sticks.

Have fun and get messy!

Bread Recipe

Here is my basic bread recipe:

1 pkg yeast
1 cup warm water
1-2 Tbls yeast food: sugar, honey or molasses (maple syrup would work, but I've never used it)

3-4 cups flour
2 Tbls olive oil

Mix the yeast, water and food together in a bowl. Let the yeast proof or get foamy. Add the flour and oil. Mix the flour in a cup or so at a time. Add enough that you can kneed the dough with your hands without wearing it. Kneed until dough is all mixed then kneed 10 more times.

Let the dough rise in a bowl placed in a warm area. The oven is fine if it is off. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel. When the dough has doubled, you can make it in to buns, pretzels or bread sticks. Bake at 400' for about 15 minutes or so. Watch carefully if you've done the shaping with the kids - sometimes the thinner spots can burn quickly. You can cover with foil or remove when that piece is done and bake the rest.

If you want bread, punch this down and shape in to a loaf or press into the bottom of a pan. Let rise again until loaf shaped. Bake at 400' for 20 minutes or until the smell makes you crazy and the bread is hollow sounding when tapped.

July Dates ** Updated

Time to plan for the summer! We have two dates in July for Messy Fingers - yay!

The theme for the summer reading program is Go Green! and that theme will underlie both our programs. Because it is summer, I am designing our programs for all ages and encourage families with kids of different ages to come join the fun!

July 1 - Birds - bring lots of toilet paper tubes and we will learn about our feathered friends
***This will be at 1pm


July 13 - Paper Airplanes - grab your junk mail and see what trash makes the best plane and glider
***This will be at 10:30am

All the programs will be at the Millbury Public Library.
***Mrs. V has asked for sign ups - so check with the librarian to sign up today!!

Paper Airplanes

My oldest got the great idea of making paper airplanes while we were stuck inside. The fun part about paper airplanes is that they are so manipulatable. We made them out of different papers, folded the wings in different spots, used paper clips, and launched them at our ceiling fan.

If you get inspired (or stuck inside), I would recommend checking out the website of Ken Blackburn, engineer and award winning paper airplane maker. Get it here.

What do you think flies better: copy paper or construction paper planes??

Hail!

Ok, so this is the last year I plant lettuce early in the spring! At 10:50pm last night we had a hail storm. Looks like there wasn't too much damage, but the lettuce is toast.

My past data is piling up!

Drawing Conclusions

While most of this blog is about preschoolers, this entry is more about me. All of us, preschoolers included, make future predictions based on past data. Normally this is a really useful way of learning about the world around us. We drop a ball and it bounces. So next time we drop a ball, we expect it to bounce.

My garden is exploding - which is pretty amazing since I live in New England and spring has been mixed up. We had the really hot weather first and cooler weather recently.

Now this is my stumbling block. Mere hours after my first harvest last year, we had a microburst hail storm. This is me in my garden about three hours after my first harvest. So you can imagine my ... hesitation at harvesting anything just yet.

I will get over my past data and get some lettuce and spinach out of the garden this weekend. But if it hails again ... well, that will be the last time I will ever plant spring spinach!