.png)
July arrived with its usual dose of heat, and to keep the cool off, the children and I decided to use some refreshing lemons. We chose several lemon recipes to make, and then did a taste test. First, we made lemon-poppyseed muffins.
This duo did a great job taking turns as they poured, dumped, stirred, and put muffin papers into the pan. These activities were a great way to introduce measurement, counting, and to refine small motor coordination.
Other children helped to make lemon shortbread, squeeze lemons for lemonade, and unwrap some lemon candy.
The next day, we did our lemon taste test, and it was very interesting! We worked together to make a chart to detail which was the most popular lemon item.
First, the children and I tried biting right into a lemon slice... needless to say, none of us liked that! We talked about lemons being sour and what it felt like to bite into the lemon. Next we tried the lemonade, and there were a few children who liked it. Third, we tried the lemon shortbread, and most of the children liked it, though there was one holdout. Last, the children tried the lemon-poppyseed muffins... I thought that they would all like it, but we found out that one child doesn't like the tart flavor of lemons at all! Last, we tried the lemon candy, but only two children liked it. We recorded our results on our chart and found out that the lemon shortbread was the most popular.
One of our July themes was going to the beach. We did several fun fingerplays about the beach during circle time. The children's favorite was about a turtle and it went like this:
One little turtle live in her shell
It was a home she liked so well.
She poked out her head
To look at the view.
Another turtle came, and then there were two!
They had small tails,
And their feet made tracks,
And they carried their homes
Upon their backs!
While there were a few rainy days in July, we spent as much time as we could outside. Mid-month we were able to celebrate National Picnic Day with a wonderful picnic feast! The children and I talked about what we should bring on our picnic, then we played the classic memory game about bringing a-z items along on a picnic.
The weather was quite hot on National Picnic Day, so we decided to stay close to home and lay our blanket down in the shade of a tree. It was a very enjoyable picnic with sandwiches, cucumbers, watermelon slices, and, of course, cool, refreshing lemonade and water.
July was a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to what August will bring! See you soon!