July 9th, 2009 Messy play:Birdseed cookies Posted by Melitsa in Cooking, Homemade, Memes, Outdoor play, play activities, Seasonal play, Sites to visit

Yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday was a messy play slideshow. The boys and I made these bird seed cookies as a teacher gift for the end of the school year. We got the idea from Amy at Let’s Explore.

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July 5th, 2009 Independence day activity Posted by Melitsa in Articles, Cooking, Homemade, Seasonal play, Sites to visit

Part of the fun of living in another country is you get to celebrate their holidays. It’s always been strange to me to celebrate Independence day because being British they were gaining Independence from the British. lol But since I married an American, I’ve been celebrating Independence day for a while now. Now the kids are older it’s important to learn a little about their American history.

We started small this year.

We started with Daddy telling a story about 1776 and all that. They then pledged their allegiance to the flag.

Then we made these Independence day cookies.

I used this amazingly tasty sugar cookie recipe from Joy the baker. I added some orange zest left over from the Roasted pepper and Orange soup.

The boys painted the cookies with warmed corn syrup then sprinkled the red & blue sprinkles. I tried to drizzle icing sugar in the middle. We added stars.

We had 50 cookies to represent the 50 states. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the icing writer pen then we would have written the abbreviated names on each cookie. ( Co, Or, Fl etc) Next year.

What did you do for Independence day?

For more activities try

Patriotic crafts and activities @ABCand123learning

4th July crafts @ Totally tots

Red, White and blue @ NTFFC

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July 2nd, 2009 Picnic Play Posted by Melitsa in book review, Cooking, Memes, play activities, pretend play, Thought of the week

The Wordless Wednesday photo was when the mates come round.

This is BG when he was just 3. We’d planned a teddy bears picnic with friends at our local stream but for

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February 24th, 2009 Where does this meal come from? Posted by Melitsa in Cooking, Education, play activities

I was reading I never grew up and was inspired by their guest poster.
Angelina from The Little Travelers will be making 52 meals from 52 countries. I loved seeing her kids participate, although older than mine, plus a neat way to include the Geographical & cultural element in a fun and meaningful way.

Imagine all the things you could talk about, that would come up naturally as you decide which country? Where is it? Who makes this food? what does it look like? What a perfect way to talk about diversity and food.

We learn about the world around us by being active participants. If you look at your meals for the week do you see diversity?  The routines and things we do with our family make it our family way.  Whether you pray over your food or wait for everyone to be seated to start. Have milk or water at the table, have salad with every meal, always have soup first… Go somewhere else and see how even though you didn’t teach it your kids are surprised with the differences.

If your staple diet is beans and rice as a child you probably think everyone eats this. Just changing one meal will give you an opportunity to talk about how other people eat and live. An important message in our diverse culture to accept difference and embrace them.

Giving the right toys and play experiences is paramount to our children but so is the slow drip drip feed of diversity. Whether you live in a monocultural neighbourhood, your friends tend to be of one race or you live in a multi racial city or town- set out with food and learn together as a family.

Try these for more inspiration

Food Adventures: Introducing Your Child to Flavors from Around the World
Kids Around the World Cook!: The Best Foods and Recipes from Many Lands
1,000 Classic Recipes From Around the World

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