Photo Blog - Wheeler Workshop cont. Day 2 - Fun with Food!

Day 2 at the Wheeler Texas was so Yummy and so-much-fun!  

Our theme was "Fun with Food" and the workshop started out with a demo from our friends at Raddish Kids.  

Delicious recipe making homemade Hummus on Cucumber Boats.  And everyone got to try a sample!

 Time for Station Rotation!

ChickaChicka Boom Boom trees!

Fossil Food was a favorite!  But look at THOSE ingredients

Everyone got a cooking apron  compliments of my Dad at Ware Chevrolet!

Busy kiddos with their Moms

Salsa Station sponsored by Raddish

Another Cute Cook!

Yummy take-out trays FULL of yummy creations!

Recipe readers!

After tummies were full - it was time for door prizes!
And this lucky lady went home with our gift bag FULL of recipes and such from our friends from Raddish Kids.

Another Fun with Food - Moon phases with OREOS!

I found this excited resource on FB one day. Kitchen Science Experiments that YOU CAN EAT!

And I've learned that ANYTIME you can combine FOOD with learning, kids are all in!  And most of you know that we try REALLY hard to cook/create something on Fridays.  "Fun with Food Friday" is a big deal in our home and a great way to end the week.

Because it's summer and our summer has been crazy with traveling...we are just learning on the fly.  So this is just a random day that I happened to impulse buy a package of Oreos (Double Stuffed of course!) 

After naps, we watched this YouTube video on the phases of the moon.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCweccNOaqo

They needed some schema on this topic...I really don't even fully understand the whole moon cycle.  But I'm proud to say that after this lesson, I do now!

I sent the boys outside while I prepared their plates.  Making sure that they had the right amount of cookies to represent each phase.  I twisted them off and place them on a plate. 

When they came in from outside, they washed up and our lesson began.  I had this picture displayed on the tablet as we talked about the different phases.  

I used sticky notes to label each cookie/moon as we worked our way around the phases. They boys used a craft stick to carve out the icing to make each moon...then got to lick off the extra!  YUM-O!

Once our moons were created - I sent them off to play again!  It had taken us about 10 minutes to carve and cut the cookie.  And that's just enough for little learners.  We'll have plenty of time to come back for the next step...maybe even use it for our dessert!  I was also going to use the next step as a mini-assessment for what they had learned or didn't understand.

Cupcakes/Earths were created!

After dinner and before bath (easy clean up), I invite N over for his fun, informal assessment.  The orange plate is the sun, his cupcake is the earth, and I laid out all the labels to see if he could match up the moon phases. I had the tablet screen posted with the picture I used while we were carving out our cookies.  I think a 4 year old deserves a resource to refer back to, right?

After he placed them all, we called his Mimi and Bobo on FaceTime and he taught them all about what he had learned.

I worked with J the next day on his moon phases.  He had had a rough day, so we didn't do the activity with N.  I felt this was a fun reward that needed to be taken away for that day.

But with a great attitude, the next day, he was ready to go!  With J, I separated cookies and labels.  He had to try to place them accordingly, based off his prior knowledge.  Then we used the tablet to revise his thinking and discuss the specifics.  Daddy was home that day, so he got to share what he had learned with him.

 AND he was one proud dude!

There's a little peek inside a Friday filled with Fun and Food.  And now I get to eat all the left over Oreos during nap time!  SWEET!

Happy Summer and Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

Photo Blog - Wheeler Workshops - Day 1

It was such an honor and true blessing to get to "go home" and teach a workshop!  

Wanted to share a quick photo blog with how it all went down....in Wheeler, Texas.  

Here's the set-up!

Picture instructions, materials ready to go and tables down LOW!  I wanted to see how it would work with no chairs and no legs on tables.
Why a chair, when you have your Mom's Lap! 

Cutest and BEST helper!  Love this boy.

And if it wasn't for these 2 "kiddos", I don't know what I would have done!  Kristen has a heart of gold and a gracious hand (and this time a cute lil baby bump)  I enjoyed every second of our time together!  Thanks for your hard work, Momma!  And then there's my Jackson - this boy LOVES getting to be my assistant.  He has such a heart to help others...and that will take him many great places in life!

Once registered, kids enjoyed some Homemade Bubble and straws taped together to make the perfect bubble wand...

Group Learning Lesson - Rain Storm in a Cup

 From ages 10 to age 2 - I saw lots of smiles on kids faces (including my own kiddo)

Next off - Station Rotation - let's get MESSY! 

Every table used either Shaving Cream AND/OR Dish Soap!

Team Clean before Door Prizes!

Door Prizes with a drum rollllllll!

And THIS picture right here confirms that today was a FUN Day!

Glow paint - Florescent paint, shaving cream and a black light1

Wanna end this one with a HIGH-FIVE to the Mommy's of Wheeler Texas!  You guys didn't even hesitate with the idea of getting mess WITH your kids.  The smiles and laughter filled the room and I hope that you enjoyed this experience as much as I did.

Garage Sale - Kids ONLY!

This past spring, we were at the park.  I noticed that J had set up a "rock stand" and was trying to sell rocks...yep!  regular ole rocks.

He LOVES rocks and has a great collection.  We've even glued a few of these rocks and sold them...to adoring grandparents that proudly placed them on their mantle.

I knew that J had a sense of entrepreneurship in him after seeing this.  So I came up with an idea of a Kid Only Garage Sale.  And summer is a perfect time for this!

2 weeks before the Garage Sale:
We started with a simple clean out of toys!  We went through bins, tubs, drawers and baskets.  If it was "for sale", the boys knew to drop it into the white laundry basket.

After about 30 minutes of cleaning out, I lugged the basket full of toys out to the garage and there is sat...for 8 days.

Why the garage?  I wanted to put it out of sight, out of mind.  My kids always seem to want "that toy" back...so I thought the garage would be the best way to prevent this.

I did show it to J and told him that he could add toys to it if he came across anything that he decided he needed to sale.  And it's funny...he did just that.

7 days before the Garage Sale:
I sent out an email to friends inviting them to round up some spare change and come over!  That was also the day we created our BIG sign!

3 days before the Garage Sale:
While the 2 lil guys napped, J and I started sorting out the toys that had been placed in the white laundry basket.  We started with a pile for J and a pile for N.

Then, J created signs (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, $1) and began sorting out by price.  I set up storage bins for tables.  This is cheap, already in our garage and a perfect kids height.

Days prior to the Big Sale:
During rest time, J would ask if he could go out and work on the garage sale.  And he would!  He would go set up his displays alittle differently.  One day, he added color to his price signs.  And this was all without Mommy prompts, which I LOVE!

I even posted out event on our neighborhood FB page for alittle bit of advertising.

And then...the BIG day had arrived!  Cookies made, check!  Lemonade mixed, check!  Let's do this!

These pictures speak for themselves!  I enjoyed sitting back, chatting with other Moms, watching all the magic happen!

What a FUN day of "life school" at home!