Helping cook a Tortilla

The children wanted to help me cook supper. I often do a bit of cooking in the afternoon so the food is ready after the school run and I can then spend more time with the small ones after their naps. Today I was making a Spanish tortilla with home grown potatoes and chard as well as feta and sweet potato. First we went out in the garden to pick some herbs: mint and bay leaves and they enjoyed smelling them. We also have lavendar, thyme, lemon balm, parsley and basil growing so the garden is a brilliant place for the children to explore their senses.

Both children wanted to see the tortilla veggies cooking so they knew they needed a step each and went to find them, good team work! We talked about it being hot and not to touch the pan so it's a good learning experience about safety.

When the veg was done I said I needed some helpers to smoosh the eggs and there were lots of giggles and shouts of me me! I showed them how to bash/tap the eggs and break them into the bowl then they beat them up really well.

Final result- ta da! Should probably have taken pics of the empty plates! My youngest baby ate 2 portions and he's not always the best eater so obviously a big hit. I usually serve it with ham and we call it a Green Eggs and Ham and read pages from that brilliant books hitch the kids all love!

 

Group bus ride!

Furzedown primary school early years playground has some fabulous play equipment, lots funded by the school PTA which is brilliant. My youngest, in the orange coat was very happy when everyone wanted to come down to her playground at pick up time and this was a perfect photo op when they decided to play buses together, very sweet!

Walking home in the sun!

The bigger children including my neighbours daughter love holding hands with the little ones when we walk home. I'm so happy the weather is warming up again and we are starting to spend much more time outside either in the garden or at the park.

Flower pics

Gardening seed catalogues arrive in the post in hoards in my house and they are a brilliant source for arts and crafts activities! We can talk about sizes and shapes of flowers, compare with what's in the garden, say which ones are our favourites, choose colours and even find animals in some of the magazines. The bigger kids can practice their cutting skills and everyone can do the glueing and sticking to make some really cheerful pictures that any fridge would be proud to display!

Planting time

It's a busy time of year for gardening! We had our lunch outside at the table and then did some planting. I showed my little girl the tray which I had started off with 2 bean seeds in each module I then asked her to copy and put the same number of beans into each square. She managed really well and could count how many she needed at the end.we then covered the beans with compost and she enjoyed this messy bit! When she comes back after the Easter holiday the beans will hopefully have germinated and she will be able to see the fruits of her labours.

Easter Bunnies

I love an excuse to do some making! I wanted to do an activity that would be suited to my under 2 year old and this was perfect! He could see it was a bunny and managed to put glue on and help choose and stick the eyes, ears, nose, teeth and whiskers! Very cute don't you think? I was very impressed with my 4 year old boy who drew and cut out all his own teeth and ears! How many things can you make with an old loo roll!?

We are sailing

The play boat in the playground at Furzedown is very popular with the small children while we do our school drop offs and pick ups. C (21 months) has learned how to climb in now and giggles with excitement at his acheivement and being able to join in with the bigger children. I think it must really help the transition to school because the little ones are already very familiar with the school environment and get to know the routine of going to school every day. Sometimes the little ones go into the classroom with me to see the big kids and help collect them. I think it's lovely for the teachers too to see the wee ones and get a sense of the other relationships that the children they teach have.