Pizza Time

Cooking with children is a delightful activity, and pizza is a good introductory food. Kneading dough and putting on toppings invests a child with pride about cooking for himself and the family. Iain likes a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and pizza is one more way for him to enjoy them. Since his daddy is the pizza maker in the family, this is an activity that can be special for father and son. The ingredients are simple, the kneading is fun like Play-doh, the rising dough is like magic, and topping pizzas is creative! It's a pretty cool experience.

Easy Pizza

2 Tablespoons yeast (one little foil package)

1 1/3 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

Whisk these together and let it stand 5 minutes.

Add:

3 cups white flour

1 cup wheat or semolina flour (or another cup white)

1 teaspoon salt

Wash those little hands and let your child help knead the dough for a full 5 min. Cover the bowl and let it stand for 1 hour (on the stovetop near the tea kettle is a nice spot). It will puff up to the amazement of all, and then it is time to knead it again for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 balls--each one will make 4 nice pieces, so you can cook them for lunch on separate days or use it all to make two 12" pizzas. Roll the dough out to about a 12" circle or square. Use spaghetti sauce for pizza sauce, load on mozzarella cheese or a cheese blend, and add the toppings. Place on a baking stone or a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking oil. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the crust is browned. Enjoy--and give lots of compliments to your little chef!

Slalom Racing

More Cardboard Tube Fun

It's pretty much never-ending, the number of fun times possible with a few toilet paper tubes. Daddy thought a bowling set at the end of the hall would be the ticket, or maybe a line of tubes to jump over; but Iain decided a slalom race course was the best idea. Mommy, you be the cheerleader, and Daddy, you be the announcer--Iain will be the racer.

Keep a tall kitchen garbage bag hanging in the garage to collect all sizes of cardboard tubes. They recycle into a big assortment of props for playtime.

Making Playdoh

Playdoh Craft Fun

In case you haven't had an occasion to make Playdoh lately, here is the recipe: 1 cup flour, 1 cup boiling (or hot) water, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tablespoon oil, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, and a few drops of food color. Mix and knead. It should be like mashed potatoes and pull away from the side of the bowl. A little more flour might be necessary. Store it in a Ziploc bag or plastic food storage container. It lasts a long time in the refreigerator, but with active play it can be easily replaced.

Iain had an introduction to Playdoh made by the college students in the child development class at the college preschool he attends. The students prepare various centers for the children to experience new sights, smells, textures, and skills. Iain gave the clay a few tentative pokes. When he had his own clay at home he was more willing to roll it and build with it.

When I was substituting in a kindergarten class several weeks ago, there was the same homemade Playdoh. One of the activity centers had several bags of colored Playdoh with a big assortment of molds, cookie cutters, and little rolling pins: Lots of manipulation skills and active imagination at work.

I saw Playdoh again in the Special Education room during a recent substitute day. Each child had a bag labeled with his name, and it was used as a quiet transition activity between other learning activities. My recipe came from the staff there, but http://www.cooks.com/ and http://www.instructables.com/ have an assortment of different recipes and colorful picture directions. Other than the hot water, and I've found that warm water works just fine, this is a recipe that a child can make with an adult. It is amazing to watch the ingredients form the dough.

ModPodge Craft

Iain's mother made him a nice set of drums using ModPodge, wrapping paper, and cardboard oatmeal containers. ModPodge is that old craft standby that glues, seals, and finishes all kinds of paper craft projects like decoupage, preserving jigsaw puzzles you want to keep as a picture, and covering cardboard tubes to make them fancy. Your child can be involved in saving the containers, choosing the paper, and brushing on the finishing coat. The drums make good containers for small toys, and they are ideal for tower-building. When they get worn out, they're recyclable!

Photo Memory Books

A reader requested photos of the projects I discuss. Here's one. I try to make Iain little photo books of happy events in his life. The latest book contains Halloween photos of him playing and trick-or-treating in his Batman suit. I mount the photos on card stock, add some simple words and laminate and comb bind the books. I enclose some stickers and send it off to him or take it along on a visit. He can have a great time looking at the pictures, associating the words, and personalizing it with a few stickers that he chooses. Stickers are inexpensive at office supply and teacher supply stores. The books don't have to be laminated or comb bound, but the copy shop offers these services for a low price. The books last a little longer, but kids would be happy with pictures glued onto construction paper and bound with staples covered with binding tape. It's the celebration of the child that matters.

Concentration

There is the game, and there is the face, of CONCENTRATION. With Iain there are both. For a simple game we cut holiday pictures from paper grocery sacks. The paper bags were printed with pumpkins, witches, ghosts, and bats. Iain and grandma spent some pleasant time at the dining room table naming them, sorting them, and turning them over and matching them. Later we drew them on his easel paper. If grandma draws the outline, then Iain puts in the eyes (his specialty right now) and maybe a mouth, a nose, and a mustache! Bags, wrapping paper, stickers--you can find a big inexpensive assortment of pictures for games, face-making, and storytelling. And when the interest dies, or the materials get worn out, they are recyclable. Iain's nice easel is from IKEA,as is the roll of newsprint ($6.99).

Concentration, Too

At two and a half, Iain is really showing an ability to concentrate on the interest at hand. Whether it is drawing, reading, or creating a story with his Playmobil trucks (seen lined up in the background), he can amuse himself quite well. It is important that he learns to do that. The self-talk, the singing and humming, and the soundtrack he creates are all helping him develop creativity and make sense of the big world. There have been several articles lately about overscheduling children. The same is true at home. Of course, they need to hear you read stories, and have you help with art projects, and have you teach them how to play with toys, and have you join in a game, BUT children need to amuse themselves as well. Iain's imagination is far more vivid than grandma's! He can be Batman, Green Goblin, and Thomas the Tank Engine all in the space of 20 minutes and then drive his dump truck on an adventure (with motor sound effects) and make a quick run to look in the mirror at the end of the hall. You wonder how that mind is working, but you know that it is working.

Let's Face it

The Face in the Mirror

Teacher and grandma came together this last week on the topic of faces and their expressions. Iain attends preschool at the college in the child development lab. What a wonderful opportunity if such a program is available in your town. The college students prepare "centers" for the preschoolers, and the variety is excellent. Iain loves to look in a mirror. Using a commercially available kit called Silly Expressions the little kids were encouraged to pick out face pictures and try to duplicate the expressions in the mirror. You can see Iain intently trying out his faces. He does a great job with faces, and it's probably because he spends a lot of time in front of a full length mirror at home. He likes to check himself out, make faces, and put on costumes and masks. He's a ham! But remember, All About Me is a common school theme from preschool through elementary grades.

Teacher Connection

I was substituting for a fifth grade teacher last week, and the class and I started the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The setting is an emotional time: World War II was starting, and London's children were being evacuated to live in the countryside, often with complete strangers. What a wide range of feelings they must have experienced. Thinking of Iain's mirror activity I had gone online for vocabulary about emotions, and found a Dell Word Search called Read My Face. It has 29 words to find and circle that cover a wide range of emotions that can be expressed in the face: panic, conceit, remorse, worry, distress, and grief are a few. It was a great lesson in vocabulary and presentation skills. The students defined the words and presented the facial expressions like charades. The class had a good discussion as we started the book.

Further Activity

There are lots of opportunities to further understanding about emotion. Iain and I find facial expressions in his books, like Thomas the Train. We talk about what Thomas is feeling when his face looks happy or worried or surprised. Iain likes to have Mommy's two-sided cosmetic mirror, like the one he used at preschool, at the table when he eats and when he draws. He likes to check his expressions. If I had had more time with that fifth grade class we would have done magazine and clip art searches for faces to illustrate all the emotions. Not only is it vocabulary, but it is a good lesson in reading body language. Face it--people say a volume without ever uttering a word.