Making Granola With Two Year Olds- A Guest Post and Recipe

The teacher of our twos program, Lini,  had such a hit with her center activity last week, that I asked her to share it with us in another guest post from her.  

It is difficult to find a good baking activity to do with 2 yr olds that does not require an adult hovering closely to make sure there is not a tablespoon of salt in the cookies rather than a teaspoon.

I was so pleased to discover the perfect recipe for 2 yr olds - granola! 

The children scooped and mixed the oats, seeds, fruits and coconut pouring from one bowl to another and stirring with a wooden spoon. There was no hovering!

Eventually all the oats & mix-ins landed in a large jar (like a Costco sized pretzel jar) we whisked the melted butter and honey together and poured it over the oats, shaking it in the jar to combine.

We enjoyed it at snack time and each child took a small bag home with them, I got several requests for the recipe, it was DELICIOUS!

So here it is:
GRANOLA RECIPE
6 C Old Fashioned Oats
approx 1/2 C each raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, golden raisins, craisins, banana chips, unsweetened coconut
Melt one stick butter, mix in 1/4 C honey & 1/2 C canola oil and pour over oat mixture, mix well. Spread on baking sheet, bake at 325 degrees for 20-30 min stirring every 10 min.

A Wearable Abacus

We read Eric Carle's  Rooster's Off to See The World 

In the illustrations, Eric Carle uses stacking squares to show the number relationship to the animals the rooster encounters on his adventure.  In this spirit, we made number story necklaces using pony beads.

The children added one bead to represent the rooster, then two beads stand for the next two animals using a different color, and then three of another color and so on until they had ten beads of the last color. 

Some children selected the beads according to what their animals looked like in their minds such as choosing three red beads to represent three red lady bugs-a creature not in the story but adapted by this particular student.  Others chose their beads based on colors that they liked.

Many of the children were able to pick a bead from the main dish on the table, string that bead and keep counting until they had the number needed.  Others did get confused and it helped to have them count out the number of beads needed into a cup and then string that group. 

We did go further than the book which covers up to 5 animals and then goes in reverse.  We used ten different colors and had groups of beads up until 10. 

Simple Sensory Experience...and Delicious!

The price of oranges finally came down a couple of weeks ago, so my assistant had the great idea to make fresh squeezed juice.

 
The children loved the process of pushing the orange halves on to the juicer and grinding them around.
Having to work very hard for a few sips of juice was an interesting concept for them.

The smell of fresh squeezed juice filled the classroom and the center was full throughout our playtime.

Many of the children enjoyed squeezing the juice out and being able to offer it to others, and several wanted to take some home to share with mom and dad.

A great use of the leftover orange halves is to fill them with birdseed and make a pipe cleaner handle to put outside for the birds and squirrels.