Cutting with a Knife - Toddler Style

Peter and Lucy pulled out 2 plastic children's butter knives out of the drawer.  We just picked these up from IKEA a little while back.  They wanted to cut something and I figure, why not?  So I got out the play dough and made long snakes and let them cut away. 

Peter cutting

When Lachlan woke up and joined us I decided to add a measurement element to it and laid the ruler next to his snake.

Lachlan's pieces were cut pretty evenly.  He really enjoyed measuring to see how long his snake was.

I got it started and then let him roll it out a bit on his own too. 

Fun and simple!  FunShine Express has had us use the rolled out play dough like this to form into shapes of letters.  So you could add that element to it.  Or ask them to cut you a certain amount of pieces or even put masking tape down with measurements on it and ask them to cut it to a certain length.  I am sure we will do this again and try out a new element each time.

Have fun!

We Planted Tomatoes!

After doing the Various Vegetables lesson from FunShine Express I really saw how having the kids involved in the choosing of the vegetable would make them more willing to try it.   This made me really want to have them involved in the growing of food.  So I told myself, and my husband, we must plant SOMETHING this year.  Turns out we had a few tomato cages and thought tomatoes would be a good place to start.  So for Mother's day my husband watched the kids so I could go shopping and snooping on my own!  This was so nice.  I even got to pick out my own Mother's day present.  Jeff had already gotten me something but he wanted me to pick out something nice for myself.  So sweet.  While I was out and about I picked up 2 tomato plants and some soil that we might actually be able to grow something in. 

This was such a fun family project.  Jeff did most of the digging, but they boys helped of course.  

I got these elephant watering cans in the dollar section at Target.  We filled them up and let them water away.  I have a feeling these tomato plants will never be thirsty. 

My Mother got me this beautiful pot with the plants, the solar light and the glass globe watering thingy ma bob (that's its technical name) for my Mother's day present.

And more water. :)

It turns out it is nice to have cages around the tomatoes plants for more than just support when growing but also for protection.  I do hope these plants survive long enough to produce at least one ripe tomato. 

Maybe this weekend we will add one more veggie of some sort.  Any recommendations?  Something that likes a lot of water maybe?

Various Vegetables - Update

As I had hoped, the investment that the boys made into picking out their own vegetables at the store really did make them more willing to try something new.

It has been so nice here, so yesterday, we took our red and orange bell peppers outside to dissect.  I cut them open and let them explore what was inside.  Talked about what the seeds were for and showed them which part we eat and which part we don't as I continued to cut them up.

Lachlan wanted to try his orange bell pepper first and Peter tried his red.  Their willingness to try was much better than if we had just simply put something on their plate at dinner time.

Peter's not quite sure at this point.

Exploring the stem and seeds

Teaching me about the seeds and what they do.

Now, I didn't say they loved the bell peppers.  Just that they were more willing to try.  At first they weren't sure.  They did like them, then they didn't.  Later Peter sat down and ate another couple slices of the orange bell pepper.  Lachlan really didn't try them again.  But they were both excited to have the neighbor kids try them when they stopped by after school.

I plan to try this again at the farmer's market this weekend.  I need to prepare myself again for the potential of an obscure vegetable being chosen.  Let's hope for a tomato!


If you find my blog posts helpful and you decide to make a purchase at FunShine Express please select my blog name in the referral section when you check out. We are so thankful for any help we get towards the expense of our boys education.

Various Vegetables

We are in the Kids in the Kitchen theme with FunShine Express.  On this day we were asked to collect various vegetables to talk about with the kids.  To touch, feel, examine and taste.  Then we were to classify the vegetables in to groups by different categories.  For example: first by color, then maybe texture or shape. 

I wasn't sure what I would do with that many vegetables in the house and it just so happened that on this day I didn't have the usual daycare children.  So I decided to take Lachlan and Peter to the grocery store and cruise through the vegetable section.  I didn't let them touch or handle the fruit so it did eliminate a few senses of observation, but it was still a lot of fun.  We got to see some vegetables we wouldn't normally bring home.

Lastly, I let them pick out which ever vegetable they wanted to bring home.  I truly prepared myself for them to bring home some obscure vegetable that I have never even heard of.  My plan was to look it up on Pinterest or Allrecipes.com to find something to do with it.   Luckily my boys picked out a red and orange bell pepper.  Phew!  I have yet to cut it up but when I do I want them to be fully involved, turn it into somewhat of a dissection.  I am hoping this will make them feel more committed to the idea of trying it because they came along with me for the whole process.  I will keep you posted.

Of course this whole process is pretty inherent if you have a garden.  They are even more involved in the process because they get to help grow, plant, water and pick the vegetables or fruit.  One of my favorite childhood memories is of walking around our house, picking fruit, washing them with the hose (some times not washing them at all) and eating and eating until our hearts content.

We NEED to get started on some sort of a garden, even maybe just a tomato plant in a pot for this year.   I  will have to talk to my sister (horticulture pro) and check out tips from my friend at Proverbs Thirty One Woman.  Maybe even get a copy of her cookbook, for my husband of course.

If you find my blog posts helpful and you decide to make a purchase at FunShine Express please select my blog name in the referral section when you check out. We are so thankful for any help we get towards the expense of our boys education.

Chef Lachlan & Chef Peter

Sorry about all the pictures but I will let them tell the story.