Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

I found a great idea for a "turkey " apple tart/pie snack online here . We adapted the idea slightly to make them a little bit smaller and made them with a whole wheat pastry crust. The children helped by rolling out the crust, grinding the cinnamon and putting them together. Oh, we didn't use the apple jelly in our either. We opted to use a small scoop of our homemade applesauce instead. Craisins made great eyes and a little dusting of cinnamon and sugar topped them off. Baked in the oven (This one stayed in just a little bit too long), and gobbled right up! Happy Turkey Day!

Worms, worms, worms........... Today was all about worms. Last night, our evening crew of children were helping me move some the sand near the edges of our sandbox because we need to enlarge it by a few feet for our new play structure. (We received a quality improvement grant from the 4Cs/Great Start Regional Resource Center for a new outdoor play structure. I'll be blogging more about this as we finish installing it.) When we went to move the edges of the sandbox, we found a bunch of worms!! "Can we keep them?" "Find a bucket and we will bring them inside." This morning, I filled the sensory table with some dirt and our worms: "They are wiggly" It tickles when they move on your hand. They look much bigger when you use a magnifying glass! "Look at how long that one is!!!!" "I think this one is the longest worm." After we spent some time observing our new worm friends, we decided it was time to paint wi...

Today was a day of strawberries! We spent a good 45 minutes cleaning and cutting all of the "jam berries" we had. (My aunt and uncle own a strawberry farm in Chassell, Michigan- The Crane Berry Farm). I did not expect interest to last as long as it did, but the children were super excited about cutting the berries. After we cut the berries, we made some strawberry drop biscuits: 2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1 Tbsp. honey 1/2 c. margarine 2/3 c. milk Strawberries to taste- we added between 2-3 cups (we like lots of berries!) Mix dry ingredients cut in margarine, add milk and honey. Mix well. Fold in Strawberries. Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet. (We use parchment paper on a cookie sheet). Bake in oven pre-heated to 400 for approximately 20 minutes until they look like this: Cool, and then Enjoy! They were devoured, no leftovers today. :). We also made a pretty cool project from our ber...

In sticking with our theme of butterflies and caterpillars, we presented our chocolate zucchini bread in the shape of a butterfly at snack time. Here is how we made it: You need: mini muffin tins heart shaped tube pan (only if you are making the butterfly as we did) cooking spray 2 cups whole wheat flour 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp baking powder 3/4 cup honey 2 eggs 1/3 cup canola oil 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups chopped zucchini Heat Oven to 350 degrees. You will need to coat your pan(s) with cooking spray. In one bowl combine your dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder. Mix well and set aside. In another bowl combine honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in shredded zucchini and fold in the dry ingredients until the batter is just moistened. (You do not want to over mix) Pour the batter into your prepared pans. For a larger pan you will need to bake for approximately 45 minutes. (That is how long...

Sticking with our current theme, today we had another butterfly snack. String cheese, tomato slices, green peppers, broccoli and carrots. It was also a great time to reinforce our talk about symmetry, as the children found the same items on each side of the caterpillar's body. We are going to have "caterpillar and butterfly" Mac'n'Cheese for lunch. (Made with Ziti and Bow Tie Pasta instead of Elbow Macaroni). It was delicious! The children voted unanimously that the "butterflies" tasted better than the "caterpillars." If you missed our fruity caterpillar and butterfly- click here!

Here is a quick and fun "butterfly" or "caterpillar" snack for your little ones! Last week, we made caterpillars, today, we tried butterflies. The wings are made with a whole wheat flour tortilla that has been lightly brushed with margarine and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Then you place it in the oven until it crisps at approximately 350 degrees. it takes just a few minutes. Let the shells cool and cut them into four pieces. Each "butterfly" will take 2 pieces for the wings. The body of the "butterfly" or the "caterpillar" is made with melon. In the photo above, there are 3 watermelon balls. Last week when we had caterpillars I made them with honeydew, canteloupe and watermelon.