The Letter 'M'

The letter M!

Words that start with M
moon
muffin
magnets
magnifying glass
marbles
moose
mouse
monkey
moonsand
manatee

Books:
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
Moon Cake (little bear book)

Covering the Letter M with marbles. This can be done with other letters, and other objects - stickers are great too!

Moon muffins! These were made with the basic muffin recipie from a previous post, and chocolate chips added! We used a 'muffie topper' pan to make the moon shape. We also ate them trying to make the different shapes of the moon (half moon, 'toenail' etc.) MMMMM moon!

Here is the finished moon painting project

Playing with magnets (do NOT use magnets if your child might eat them!). I tried to get him to make an 'M' with them, but he just made lines.

Moon Paint

Shaving cream

white glue

Mix in equal portions. Paint all over paper and let dry overnight. Then cut out a moon shape and an 'm' and glue onto darker paper. This 'paint' is a really strange texture and fun to play with. It cleans up easily (wet or dry) as well. You can also add color for variation (mix it with the glue before adding to the shaving cream)

Some other activites:

Saw some real manatees in the river

Made a monkey puppet (folding paper accordian style for limbs)

Played with moon sand

Played a matching game

read books with the letter M

Looked at stuff with the magifying glass (see 'adventure walk' post for more on this)

Played music with instruments

Baked Onion Rings

Chef No Pants

Baked Onion Rings

panko

mojave seasoning (or whatever seasoning you'd like)

1 egg

milk (we use almond)

1 sweet onion

Cut the onion into rings. Mix the egg with a little milk. Mix the panko with seasoning, to taste.

Dip in the egg, 'shake shake shake' to get the drip off. Dip in panko mixture and pat more on as needed. Put on cookie sheet.

Bake 400 degrees, about 10min, flip and 10min more.

Levi could do every step of this process, I just had to remind him to shake the egg off! These were yummy and healthier than the fried kind!

Finger Paint

Finger Paint
3 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
your choice of coloring (small amount of kid paint, food coloring, koolaid packet)

Mix in a saucpan and cook over medium heat until thick. Add more water if you want to. Add color and allow to cool

County Fair

First of all, I won FIRST PLACE for my muffins! I randomly decided to enter, and won! I also won 2nd place for my brownies, and 3rd for my pasta sauce. Next year I want to enter the sewing competition as well, I KNOW I could beat the items I saw on display! Here is the recipe for you to enjoy!

Blueberry lemon muffins with Crumble Topping

Makes 12 regular muffins

Ingredients

Lemon Curd (you can also just buy a jar kind)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 TBS lemon zest
• ¾ Cup white sugar
• 4 TBS butter (we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Muffins (this is a great base recipe, you can add whatever you want to it, berries, cut up apple and cinnamon, raisins, etc)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you like)
• 1 cup fresh organic blueberries

Topping
• 1/4 cup white sugar + ¼ cup organic brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed (again, we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
Lemon curd: In double boiler wisk eggs sugar and lemon juice and zest until thick, cool slightly and strain. Allow to cool to room temperature. Can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to 3months

Muffins: Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups ½ way, add a teaspoon of lemon curd and top with more batter, fill nearly to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes in preheated oven until done.

At the County Fair, Levi got to meet some animals! 4-H was there, and he got to pet a chicken, goats (including cute babies!), and milk a pretend cow (which had water in it, not real milk!). They also had eggs there that were just hatching. Levi loves animals so it was great to be able to see them up close and ask questions to the 4-H club kids.

The five senses: Touch

First.... a shot of my messy boy!

Various slimes/goops/dough is great for experencing the sense of touch.

Gluten Free Playdough:

1/2 cup rice flour (you can use regular flour instead)

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup salt

2tsp cream of tarter

1 TBS oil

1 cup of water

Cook in a saucepan on medium until it forms a ball, let cool and kneed

Another dough:

1 cup cornstarch

2 cups baking soda

1.5 cups water

cook until it looks like mashed potatoes, let cool, kneed. This can also be rolled thin and baked in a cool oven for an hour or so to make things like ornaments. Has a different texture than most playdough.

Gak (pictured)

8oz of elmers glue

1/2 cup water

1tsp of borax

Mix water and borax, add glue and stir/kneed well. pour off extra liquid.

Oobleck

cornstarch

water

start with a bunch of cornstarch, slowly add water stirring as you go (it will end up about 1/2 water, 1/2 cornstarch), when you stirr slow it will feel like liquid, but if you move fast, its like a solid!

Here is Landis and Levi fingerpainting! Great for both touch and sight (and a mess)

Finger paint:

3 cups water

1 cup cornstarch

Put in a saucepan on medium heat, bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (it will thicken more as it cools, add water as nessisary and stir often while it cools), color as disired (food coloring, kool-aid packet, add a little bit of kid friendly paint...)

Sensory box ideas:

- shredded paper (Levi likes this one!)

- sand

- moon sand

- lentils

- beans

- coffee grounds

- dirt/mud

- ice

- water

- packing peanuts (use the cornstarch ones only, not the styrafoam)

- buttons

- leaves

- rice (you can color it if you want)

- pasta

- shaving cream

- straws cut into small lengths

- bird seed

- polymer crystals and water (from the garden store)

Cornstarch dough

I made my own cornstarch dough because Levi is allergic to coloring, and I think play doh feels kinda gross. This dough has a nice texture to it and doesnt dry out your hands like salty homade playdough can.
I store it in the fridge because of the weather here (to prevent mold!), and it lasts a long time. You can also roll it out and bake it in the oven to make ornaments and things. (low temp for an hour or so). It can be painted once its dry.

Here is the recipie:

2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups water
Food coloring (optional, you can also use powdered tempra paint, or unsweetened koolaid)

Mix baking soda and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Gradually stir in water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat while dough is still easy to stir. Do not overcook. Turn out on platter and cover with a damp cloth. When cool enough to handle, knead until smooth, adding water if dough crumbles. If desired, knead in food coloring.