Easter Sugar Cookies!

Day 3 of the Week - The theme this week is Easter. The letters of the week are k, M, m. Project - Easter Sugar Cookies - We made cookies instead of a craft today. I have some cute Easter/Spring cookie cutters so we used them to make some delicious sugar cookies. Lauren was a great helper. She loved cutting the cookies out, frosting them and of course eating them. I used my mom's Sugar Cookie recipe and her cream cheese frosting recipe too! I am sharing both of them just in case you want to make some cookies too!!! Sugar Cookies
Mix: 1 c. white sugar, 1 c. powdered sugar, 2 c. butter or margarine
Add: 2 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp vanilla
Add: 4 1/2 c. of flour - form into 3 balls. Chill well - roll out on floured surface. Use cookie cutters to cut into cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min. (I halved the recipe for our Easter Cookies)

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 c. butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 lb (2 c.) powdered sugar. - mix until smooth!

We also did a little Easter Scavenger hunt with number recognition! Lauren had a blast searching for her eggs!

Addie playing while Lauren is searching for her eggs.

Addie and Lauren with their Easter Scavenger Hunt prizes!!

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Numbers - counting pennies, writing numbers, less than

Pre-Reading Skills - reasoning
Beginning Sounds - writing beginning consonant sounds, recognition

Ending Sounds - recognition, writing ending sounds
Writing Letters -Lowercase m

Shamrock stamping!

Project - Shamrock Stamping - This is a project from 3 years ago. Connor was only 2 when we did this - he will be 5 next week!!!!! Directions - Dip a shamrock cookie cutter into green paint and press onto white construction paper. Mount dried paper onto larger green construction paper! I remember Connor and Lauren making a mess with this project, but also having a lot of fun dipping the shamrock cookie cutter into the green paint!

Materials Needed- white and green construction paper, green paint, shamrock cookie cutter

Model Magic Gingerbread Men!

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Christmas Sweets. The letter of the week is X, x.

Project - Model Magic Gingerbread Men - Connor and Lauren rolled out 1 package of Crayola's Model Magic and pressed a gingerbread cookie cutter into the it. I helped Connor and Lauren remove the cookie cutter from the Model Magic. We let the gingerbread cutouts dry overnight. The next day, Connor and Lauren painted their gingerbread men brown and added buttons and sequins to complete their gingerbread men. Materials Needed - 1 package of Crayola's Model Magic, gingerbread man cookie cutter, rolling pin, brown paint, paint brush, buttons, sequins, beads, ribbon, googly eyes.

Learning Activities - I have been using the workbook Everything for Early Learning Preschool workbook. (I purchased it at Wal-Mart)

Today's Activities:

The letter X,x - writing, recognition, beginning sound

Number Review - counting, following directions,

Aut-yum Leaves!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Fall! The letter of the week is N, n and the number of the week is 12.
Project/Treat - Aut-yum Leaves - I found the recipe for this treat in the November 2008 issue of Family Fun Magazine. http://www.familyfun.go.com/ under Aut-yum Leaves. Directions - Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk one egg with a tsp of water and set aside. On a floured surface, roll out a prepared pie crust. Use a large leaf-shaped cookie cutter to make as many dough leaf pairs as possible. (we made 3 pairs). For each pocket, spread about 4 tsp of chocolate peanut butter chips on a leaf, leaving a 1/2 - inch margin at the edge. Brush egg wash onto the edge, place a 2nd leaf on top, and press the edges to seal. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle it with sugar. Bake the leaves on a parchment-covered cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 12-14 minutes. We used a little leaf cookie cutter to make cinnamon sugar leaves out of the scraps. Ingredients/Materials - store-bought pie crust dough, chocolate peanut butter chips, flour, egg, water, sugar, basting brush

The chocolate-peanut butter filled leaves

Learning Activities - I have been using the workbook Everything for Early Learning Preschool workbook. (I purchased it at Wal-Mart)
Today's Activities:
The letter N, n - beginning sounds, following directions
The number 12 - recognition, writing, counting, following directions
Tracing Lines - fine motor skills, following directions

Finger Painting - outside scene!

Day 2 of our week - No theme this week. The letter of the week is G, g and the number of the week is 4.

Lauren's finger painting

Project - Connor and Lauren haven't used finger paints in a long time, so I thought today would be a great day to have fun with the paints. I gave them each a blank piece of 11/13 white construction paper. I squeezed red, yellow, blue, and green finger paint onto plates. I set out paintbrushes, Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners and dinosaur cookie cutters to create with. I asked them to make an outdoor scene (What do you see outside?) They had a lot of fun painting their pictures. * We used dinosaur cookie cutters, because they are really into dinosaur stuff this week!* Materials Needed - 11/13 white construction paper, finger paints, paint brushes, Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, cookie cutters.

Connor's Painting

Learning Activities - I have been using the workbook Everything for Early Learning Preschool workbook. (I purchased it at Wal-Mart)
Today's Activities:
The letter G, g - writing, beginning sound
The number 4 - recognition, one-to-one correspondence, following directions
The concepts first, second and third - recognition, matching,following directions
The concept down- recognition, following directions, cutting and pasting

Birdseed Biscuit

Day 1 of our week - I am back from a mini vacation with my husband (that is why there was only 2 posts last week). I feel refreshed after a much needed vacation without the kids. They had a wonderful time playing with both sets of grandparents.
No theme this week! The letter of the week is G, g and the number of the week is 4.

Connor with the finished biscuits

Project - Birdseed Biscuit. I found this project in the February 2009 issue of Family Fun Magazine. I let Connor and Lauren choose 2 cookie cutters each. Lauren chose a bunny and a butterfly and Connor chose a ghost and a bat (Halloween Theme!) I doubled the recipe shown in the magazine to make 4 biscuits. The recipe in the magazine only makes two biscuits. Connor and Lauren each dumped in 3/4 cup of birdseed, (1 1/2 cup total) 1 tbsp of flour, (2 tbsp total) and 2 tbsp of water (4 tbsp total). Then thy mixed it all together. I sprayed the cookie cutters with cooking oil and placed them on a foil covered baking sheet. Connor and Lauren used plastic spoons to fill their cookie cutters with the birdseed mixture. I packed the mixture in with the spoons and Connor and Lauren pushed 1/2 a straw into the mixture near the top to create a hole for hanging. Then I baked the biscuits in a 170 degree oven for a little over an hour (or until the biscuit is hard). I let the biscuits cool, removed the straw and threaded fishing line through the hole, so the Birdseed Biscuits can be hung outside on a tree! Materials Needed - cookie cutters, birdseed, flour, water, measuring cup, tbsp measuring spoon, large bowl, mixing spoon, small spoon, baking pan, tin foil, cooking spray, plastic drinking straw, scissors, fishing line or ribbon, oven

Lauren and Connor mixing the birdseed mixture

Learning Activities - I have been using the workbook Everything for Early Learning Preschool workbook. (I purchased it at Wal-Mart)
Today's Activities:
The letter G, g - writing, recognition
The number 4 - recognition, one-to-one correspondence, following directions
The concept first - recognition, following directions
The concept up - recognition, following directions, cutting and pasting