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May Day lived up to its reputation and then some- we had a gorgeous, sunny day to celebrate the stirrings of spring and the coming of summer. During calendar, we talked about how nice the weather is getting- green grass and flowers are everywhere and baby leaves are peeping out.
We talked about how we could have a special tea party to celebrate the coming of summer, and how we would have to use nice manners at the tea party. After our morning routine, we washed our hands and gathered the ingredients to make jam thumbprint cookies which we'd be serving up during May Day tea.
First, we identified each ingredient, then the children took turns adding ingredients according to the recipe.
They love to help turn on the mixer (under very close supervision, of course!) and watch the ingredients blend together.
Once the cookie dough was ready, the children did a fantastic job helping roll the dough into balls. I did the last step of dipping the dough balls into egg whites and rolling them in oats since it would be directly dealing with raw egg.
We washed our hands again and waited impatiently as our cookies baked in the oven. They smelled great while they were baking- yum!
While the cookies cooled, the children and I made dancing wands together. We used empty paper towel rolls as a handle, and the children helped cut crepe paper into lengths to tape on with masking tape. The best part was dancing and running with the wands after they were done.
After that, the children helped me set up our outdoor play kitchen. We had some leftover wooden planks and landscaping bricks to use.
The children helped find odds and ends we could use in the kitchen. Soon we'll be making mud pies, mud cupcakes, mud soup, mud pizzas...
After all the outdoor play, we were very tired and ready to have lunch and naptime. While each child woke from naptime, we read Are You My Mother together. As soon as everyone was up and awake, we headed outside for our long-awaited May Day tea party!
Everyone, even the littles, used nice manners at the tea party. We really focused on saying "yes please" or "no thank you" when food and drinks were offered and taking turns speaking at the table. It was fantastic!
We ate apple slices, our jam thumbprint cookies, and sipped (diluted) lemon and rosehip tea. The children clearly felt a sense of excitement as they ate outside for the first time this year.
See you next week!