E is for egg

For the letter E this week we read "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" by Ruth Heller and "Daisy and the Egg" by Jane Simmons. Great books! We talked about all the animals that come from eggs. I had a bunch of plastic eggs and inside I put plastic animals and bugs that hatch from eggs- dinosaur, fish, lizard, snake, lady bug, octopus, frog, etc. They took turns opening them. Then we had an Easter egg hunt. (We had lots of rounds of this. And they didn't even care that there wasn't any candy inside.) Then we talked about all the things you can do with eggs and how you can make eggs. We had boiled eggs for snack. Then we painted eggs with watercolors. And finally we made a game of matching the plastic eggs and putting them together.

Some more wonderful books for eggs: "An Egg is Quiet" by Dianna Aston, "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr Seuss, and "Minerva Louise and the Colorful Egg" by Janet Morgan Stoeke.

Juegos para los colores

This site has some fun games for learning colors and other Spanish vocab. My boys always love anything that remotely resembles a video game so they enjoyed them and I think learned a thing or two at the same time!

Semillitas de aprendizaje

Our Fun Box

An idea that has really worked for our family is our FUN BOX. When my oldest was younger I let him help me decorate a cardboard box with yarn, stickers, scrap papers, extra photos of himself, etc and it became our fun box. Inside of the box I put different flannel stories, magnetic stories, a little critter paperdoll, a personalized BINGO, pompoms with paper sacks to sort them into colors, and some art supplies. I got the BINGO cards at http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo and a lot of the story pictures at http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/index.htm. The idea was that on rainy days we'd find something to do in the Fun Box but I soon discovered that when I kept it in the pantry closet, it was the perfect thing to bring out when I was trying to make dinner. I still use it often when my boys are complaining of hunger or boredom or crying for my attention right at that critical dinnertime hour. They especially like the magnetic picture stories that they can do right there by me on the fridge. It's been a lifesaver many a time!

I love giveaways!

I was directed to this great site by a friend at www.wannajugarwithmigo.blogspot.com. They are hosting a great giveaway so go check it out!

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

With this recipe you can make pizza dough that's half white and half wheat. When I use white wheat my family doesn't even know what hit 'em! Here's the ingredients for two sizes.


12" pan
1 T dry yeast
1 c warm water
1 t salt
2 T olive oil
1 1/4 c white flour
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 T gluten


17"X12"cookie sheet
1 1/2 T dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
1 1/2 t salt
3 T olive oil
1 3/4 c white flour
2 c wheat flour
2 T gluten

Combine all ingredients. Knead for a few minutes. Let rise while your oven is heating and you are preparing the toppings. Then bake at 400-425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Cheesy Volcano Meatballs

These were very yummy, easy, and my three-year-old loved helping make these! (I just had to watch closely to make sure he wasn't sticking his fingers in his mouth after touching the raw meat.) I got this from a free magazine that kraft sends out quarterly- you can get a subscription at www.kraftfoods.com.

1 lb lean ground beef
6 Ritz crackers, finely crushed
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 c spaghetti sauce, divided
about 12 cheddar cheese cubes (I cut up a block of cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix meat, cracker crumbs, parmesan cheese and 1/4 c of the spaghetti sauce in bowl. Shape into 12 meatballs, using about 2 T meat mixture for each. Place 2 inches apart on a greased shallow baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Press 1 cheese cube deeply into center of each meatball. Bake 14 min. or until meatballs are cooked through (160 degrees). Meanwhile, microwave remaining spaghetti sauce to serve over top of meatballs. Enjoy!

R is for Robot

This idea came from my sister. She read some informative and creative books with the boys. The fictional ones were: "Baby Brains and Robomom" by Simon James, "Rolie Polie Olie" by William Joyce, and "The Robot and the Bluebird" by David Lucas. Then the built their own robots! They used egg cartons, pipe cleaners, beads and stickers. They loved it and their imaginations were running wild! What a fun preschool day!