Kale Chips
Posted: March 12, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 3 Comments
This is a great snack recipe I found in a September 2010 Parents magazine. You want to use organic kale as conventional is high in pesticide residue. Kale is rich in vitamins A and C as well as being an antioxidant and any clever way you can sneak some into your diet is well worth it. We put raw kale into red sauces and simmer them down until they’re soft. This year we will try growing some in our garden. Can’t wait!
Bunch kale (washed and dried)
2 Tb olive oil
2 Tb lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
couple sheets of parchment paper
Preheat oven to 350 and chop kale into 1/2″ pieces. Place in large bowl, adding oil, lemon juice and salt. Have your pint size helper massage seasonings onto kale then place on parchment covered baking sheet. Bake up to 15 minutes or until dark green and crisp. Cool and serve!
Snow Day Galette
Posted: March 1, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 6 Comments
Cranberry & Apple Galette
1 C cranberries
3 peeled, cored and sliced apples
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pie dough either pre-made or from scratch
mix fruit, cinnamon and sugar together in bowl, pour into center of dough, pull up edges and fold together
bake in 400 degree, preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown
Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted: February 13, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 5 Comments
Farm Day
Posted: February 11, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities 6 CommentsPregnant mama Mia
Learning how to milk
A two day old calf
Collecting eggs
Learning to use gentle hands
Learning Shapes With Stencils
Posted: February 8, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities 5 CommentsUse some recycled cardboard scraps and trace simple shapes to cut out. I suggest using an x-acto knife up and out of reach of your little one. The nice thing about creating a stencil from corrugated cardboard is that it’s thick enough for your toddler to push against with his or her marker or crayon, without tearing easily. Encourage your child to hold stencil with one hand while following the edge with drawing tool in the other hand. Your toddler’s desire for repetition is just what you want here!!
Happy Valentine’s Day by the way!
Nutcracker, Anyone?
Posted: January 31, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities 4 CommentsIt’s been 3 months since David took our daughter to the Nutcracker performance in town. We are still listening to the music, dancing in dress-up clothes, singing the melodies and now making art together.
Working in her Nutcracker coloring book from Gramma Jane. Beautifully detailed depiction of all the characters. The music is playing in the background. 
Buttons & Beads
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities 4 CommentsHere’s some more fun with Sculpey Clay and a great project for helping your little one with fine motor development. I made some beads ahead of time. There are a million ways you can make beads and I used a very simple method. Knead the clay with your fingers until it warms up. Roll small amounts into ball shapes between your hands. One way to add color without blending is to roll out a small snake shape, then attach it to the ball and roll between hands until it’s incorporated – but not blended. Pierce with pin or other fine tool for hole and place them on smooth cooking pan. Be careful NOT to let pieces touch each other while cooking. Cook according to thickness in a preheated oven at 275 degrees. Sculpey packaging suggests 15 minutes for every 1/4″ thickness. You must be careful not to over-bake.
Remembrance Memory Wire is great fun to use as it holds it’s shape. Using some wire cutters and needle nose pliers I cut off a section and curled the end to keep beads from falling off. 
Once finished stringing the beads, I trimmed the excess wire with my cutters leaving about 1/2″ to curl with the needle nose pliers.
Et Voila
Below are some Sculpey buttons which became eyes for a sock puppet. I expect you could use them on clothing but you’d want to coat them with a waterproof varnish to protect them during laundering.
Homemade Granola Bars
Posted: January 18, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 4 CommentsI found this recipe in a local newspaper and tweaked it a bit based on items we had on hand:
2 C rolled oats
3/4 C brown sugar (I used 1/2 C)
1/3 C ground flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C raisins (I used 1 C assortment of dried apricots, cranberries and raisins)
1/2 C honey
1 beaten egg
1/2 C Canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350, line a 9″ x 13″ pan w/foil and grease. Add oats, sugar, flax, cinnamon, flour and dried fruits together in bowl.
Next add egg, oil, vanilla and honey and mix with hands.
Press mixture into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars. Delicious! Use any crumbly pieces in cereal with milk or as dessert on top of ice cream.
Community Garden
Posted: January 16, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, Farming off the Farm, Little Green Thumbs 5 CommentsOur family has one of 35 plots at the new community garden site in town. This summer we helped build the beds for the 10′ x 10′ plots. In addition there will be 2 handicap beds, a children’s garden and 3 sites for composting.
We expect to plant carrots, tomatoes, kale, spinach, arugula, eggplant, snap peas, cucumber, and patty pan squash. I took E to visit the site as it’s important for her to see it during the different seasons and phases.
Dough Letters and Sculptures
Posted: January 12, 2012 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 5 CommentsI used to refer to this activity as pretzel letters, but it’s really bread dough, and we seldom end up with anything that resembles letters – but we DO have a WHOLE lot of fun!
You can either make or purchase bread dough ahead of time.
Preheat oven to 400. Throw out bit of flour on work surface to minimize sticking. Break off golf-ball size pieces of dough and roll, smoosh, twist, work into letters, whatever works!
Place on baking sheet and brush on coat of beaten egg. Top with cinnamon, parmesan cheese or sea salt. Bake for about 20-30 minutes depending on thickness of dough pieces.
an Art Farm 