Farms to Feast

Farms feed the world.  They are, quite simply, fundamental to our existence.  For some of the children at Harmony's House, farms are also the place that they live.  We have been exploring farming for several weeks this fall in a variety of ways.  This post will explain how the ideas about farming and food culminate in celebrating the harvest at Thanksgiving.

In September, we visited a small farm of one of our families to meet, care for, and understand where food like milk, meat, and eggs come from.

Some farms have only animals, only food, or both.  In October, we "worked" in a Farmer's Market in our House Area.  

The children would come to the market to buy produce that they could "take home" and make supper with.

When they ran out of food, they would go shopping again.  Eventually the food at the store ran out.  The children solved this problem by "calling the farmer" to make a delivery to the store.  

Whoever was pretending to be the farmer would have to check if the hens were laying, if the pumpkins were ripe, and when they'd be able to make a delivery.  We learned that farmers were important people because the stores would run out of food without them!

Now, in November we are preparing for Thanksgiving.  Most people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving by sharing a feast with family and/or friends, just as pilgrims did centuries ago to express gratitude for a plentiful harvest.

The children are demonstrating their knowledge of farming that they have developed during September and October by working with farm animals and barns.  Farmers must take good care of the animals to have enough milk, butter, and eggs for all of the baking that happens during November and December.

They know that turkeys live on farms, and try to "catch a turkey" with these clever scissors in the Explore Table.  Turkey farmers are very busy this time of year getting ready for Thanksgiving!

They create their own miniature farms, deliver hay and water to the animals, and use the tractors to work in the fields with the plants.  It's time to harvest all the corn, apples, pumpkins, potatoes, and squash.

Finally, they use the grain, eggs, and butter from farms to run the Cookie Bakery.

Some friends work the mixers to make cookie dough.  Some bake the cookie dough on sheets.

Some friends work to frost the cookies, and box them up for sale.

This year, for the children at Harmony's House, Thanksgiving will mean being thankful to farmers who bring the meat, produce, and grains to our table for a feast!

PERFECT No Cook Play-doh

After making sugar cookies on Monday, reading about Gingerbread boys, and practicing with cookie cutters, we were ready for a fresh batch of play-doh so the school friends could "make cookies" and tell stories all on their own.

This is not a new recipe, but it is hands down, the BEST and EASIEST play-doh to make in minutes. It's soft, easily moldable, and cheap.

Recipe and Instructions:

• Put 2 cups of water in the microwave for 4-5 minutes.  Get it boiling.
• Put 2 cups of flour in a bowl.
• Add 1 cup of salt.
• Add 2 tbsp of Cream of Tarter and mix all the dry ingredients.
• Form a well in the flour mixture.
• Drop 2 tbsp of oil into the well, along with any desired food color or glitter.
• Add boiling water and stir all ingredients.
• Let sit for a few minutes and continue to knead until you have a well formed ball.
• When the temperature has come down a bit, PLAY!

During Work Time, the school friends continued to explore with cookie cutters, rolling pins, cut up straw pieces, pipe cleaners and more.  Irresistible, sensory fun!

Tis the Season to be Jolly

We welcomed December with festive new work in the Explore Table and House Area.  In addition to singing "Jingle Bells" on repeat, this new table filler encouraged lots of conversation about shapes, sizes, textures, materials, colors, quantities, and sounds.

We have one unsolved mystery as of now.  Not one jingle bell could be found that would fit in the smallest circle Christmas box.  We are on a mission to find a bell small enough to fit inside with the lid on tight.  :)

We also filled the boxes and pretended to exchange Christmas gifts, and it was SO hard to wait to open them up!  We would shake the boxes and listen to see if we could figure out what was inside!  Super exciting!  ;)

We had a cookie party today with the new Christmas cookies!  Snuffy even got in on the action.  We "fed" him so many cookies he got a tummy ache!

Poor Snuffy.  He had to lay down and take some medicine.  That's what happens when you eat too many cookies at Christmas!

Careers- What will you be?

Old stuff rocks.  It does!  Look what the school friends have been doing with obsolete technology: old modems, flip phones, random cords, computer fans, keyboards, and more.  They set up their own office space, "built" computers, made connections, sent out "bills," and made follow-up calls requesting payments!  Toddler "K's" dad was the inspiration for these new parts and doo-dads in the Toy and Puzzle Area.  Some people grow up to fix computers, or help people make connections with phones, computers, and the Internet.  

Friend "S" said that she wants to be a baker when she grows up.  To explore this career a little bit, we baked blueberry muffins for Small Group and then ate them at Snack Time later!

Some friends didn't mind doing the eggs and other friends did NOT want to get their hands slimy!  We split up the jobs: pouring in water and oil, cracking eggs, adding muffin mix, and putting muffin liners in the tray.  They were super yummy!

Planning a picnic

It all started with muffins.  "K" wanted to bake muffins for the babies.  

"Z" is mixing batter for cookies, and "K" is putting her muffin tray into the oven in this picture.  But there was a problem!  We didn't have real muffins.  What to do?

We decided to use half and quarter circle blocks from the block area to be muffins.  But now look at this table... only two chairs!  Friend "B" made a high chair for her baby by putting a stool on the chair.  Where would "K" sit?  She had a problem to solve!

Friend "K" did it again!  She decided to use "wall blocks" (cardboard bricks) to make a third chair.  Good thinking!  She tried out three or four blocks to decide which height was best suited for the table.

Could we eat the muffins yet?  No, calamity struck again!  Where would "Z" sit?  And how about Ms. Harmony?  This table was just too small.  Ms. Harmony suggested a picnic and we found the biggest baby blanket to use.  Friend "B" made brick chairs for everyone.  "Z" brought the cookies, and "K" brought the muffins.

NOW, we could have a picnic!  Whew, good problem solving girls!

The "House Area" is more than a house...

Although this center is referred to as the "House Area," it is so much more than a place to play "house."  Simply, this is the area where most socio-dramatic play happens.  This means that sometimes the House Area can be a post office, a fire station, or even a grocery store.  Changes this month included reducing the kitchen set up to a smaller furniture piece, in order to add in a baby nursery.  With the monthly focus being on different jobs people have in our community, it was important for children to interact with ideas of being doctors or nurses, bakers or chefs, veterinarians, or child-care providers.