"SNOW" much fun!!!

It was so nice outside that we finally got to venture out into the snow. Although toddlers loved running in their snow pants in our classroom today. 

When the meltdowns start, it's time to go inside!

Thankfully this activity calmed them all down when we got back inside. 30 minutes of pure enjoyment crayons and cups. 

It's hard sometimes when I get two young toddlers join the room, you never know how they are going to react to different sensory projects. Thankfully they seemed to enjoy this painting activity I mean after it was just green pudding paint!

There's always two that enjoy the full experience!!!

Our Cutest Moments:

Learning colors and shapes

Did you know that paint chips are free?!  Home Depot carries the Disney line, which means that you can go in and take a few sample colors in the fun Mickey shape!  Make it a matching game or, when your tot gets older, try it as a memory game!

This morning we painted with the color blue. I showed them how to stamp their papers using their paper cups. They were much better using the cups than the toilet tubes. I kept saying look at all those pretty blue circles. Some of them were really proud of their artwork displayed on the wall! 

The older tots today were giving me some pretty cheesy smiles today! :)

This afternoon we painted our windows with water using our paint brushes. Then we stuck foam shapes to it. Alice figured out we could also stick the foam shapes to the back of the diaper changing station when Teagan painted the back of it with water. 

Transitioning is hard on any young toddler. This always seems to be the position they all fall asleep when visiting the toddler room. 

Our Cutest Moments:

Salmon baked in foil

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 salmon (about 1-1/2 pounds), with or without skin (remove before eating)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, white wine vinegar, olive oil, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper.

Lay the salmon on a double sheet of foil on top of a baking sheet.

Fold all 4 sides of the foil up and pour the honey mixture evenly over the salmon.

Seal the foil by folding it as though you are wrapping a present. Place the salmon in the oven.

Cook until the salmon is just cooked through, about 15 minutes. Take care not to overcook the salmon.

Unwrap the salmon from the foil, cut into pieces and serve hot or at room temperature.

Toddlers love Ice!

Last night I thought it would be fun to freeze ABC letters in water and then freeze it outside. The toddlers had fun touching the ice today and tried really hard to brake the ice to get the letters out. Once they broke it they all grabbed for the broken pieces and immediately started sucking away on it. I"m sure it felt good to our teething bunch. 

We had fun exploring these two textured bags filled with our broken play dough pieces. 

This afternoon I let them finger paint with toothpaste.They weren't quite sure of the minty taste. 

 Be sure to check out our Cutest Moments next week, Old pictures will be in your child's folder. And the new pictures will be up on the wall. We are sad to say good-bye to Lola she is moving on up to the 2's. 

Our Cutest Moments:

Brr...It's cold outside!

We liked practicing putting mittens and hats on this week. Which is good for when we can actually go outside and play after this insane cold weather is over. 

Today we explored warm and cold water. I put ice cubes on a cookie sheet and then let them drop it into the warm water. We also took snow and shoveled it into the water and watched it disappear. They were a little confused on that one. They really liked the frozen sponges and started saying "brrr"  when they touched it. We talked about cold and hot, we spent most of the morning playing with the water.

During our art time we have been practicing patting down our materials onto their papers using glue. They enjoyed ripping and patting down the torn pieces but when it came to the cotton balls they weren't really into the cotton sticking to their fingers. 

James was very proud of his snowman! 

Our Cutest Moments:

Honey Garlic Shrimp Stir-Fry

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1 Cup Honey, any kind will do. I use the cheap stuff!
• ¼ Cup Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 3 Cloves Garlic, sliced thinly
• 1 squeeze Fresh Lime Juice
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper

For the stir-fry:

• 12 oz Shrimp, I used frozen but if you have fresh will be even better!
• 1½ Cup Broccoli Florets, blanched
• 1 ea Zucchini, medium size
• 2-3 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1-2 Tablespoon Cornstarch Slurry (mix a few spoonfuls of cornstarch with cold water and mix until cornstarch is dissolved)
• Cut Lime, for garnish

Instructions

1. 1. Making stir-fry is an extremely fast process, so make sure you have all your ingredients ready and prepped. Make the sauce ahead of time by adding the oil to a sauce pan over medium low heat and cook the garlic until translucent but not brown. Add the remaining ingredients and let simmer for around 5 minutes. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THIS. It WILL boil over. If it starts looking like it might boil over, just take the pot off the pan and let the bubbles dissipate. If you have too, lower the heat as well. Set this too the side after the 5 minutes.
2. 
   
3. 2. Cut the zucchini into 1 inch pieces. Make sure your shrimp are fully peeled and cleaned. Dry them on some paper towels. Get a medium sized wok or frying pan on medium high heat. Make sure the pan is nice and hot. Add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan and carefully place the zucchini in the oil. Let it get seared on all sides until cooked about half way through. Take out of the pan and set aside.
4. Add the butter and about ½ Tablespoon of oil to the pan. Mixing oil with the butter will allow the butter not to burn. Add the shrimp to the pan, do not move too much to allow the shrimp to sear.
5. When shrimp is half way cooked add the zucchini back to the pan as well as the blanched broccoli. Toss together in the pan for a few minutes until the shrimp and zucchini are cooked through and the broccoli is re-heated.
6. 
   
7. 3. Add ½ of the sauce let simmer together for just a minute or two and add the cornstarch slurry until there is a medium thick glaze over everything. Stir everything and serve over brown rice.

Happy 2015

Well we started this year off with painting on foil with the 2 year old's yesterday. Lets just say it was really fun but really messy. Miss Beth and I will be doing this activity come summer time outside so we can just wash everyone off with a hose, we did however have to give Theo and Kai a sponge bath in the sink!

Just a little clip that describes our naptime most days...

We took a field trip to the bathrooms. We have been talking a lot about the potty, I have been teaching the baby bears the potty sign during their diaper changes. We got to touch the toilet paper and not spin the toilet paper, sit on the potty and even got to wash our hands at the sinks! That was the most fun part for them because we do love making bubbles with soap. 

My New Years Night, Greer and I painted with water colors. That's right I even do art activities while I babysit, Always looking for families to care for! 

Our Cutest Moments: