Articles by Gail

From st June 2010 kites

It was hot today and everyone seemed to be happy hanging out under the oak trees crafting.  We made a simple little kite  (which really works) and a colorful windsock.  Both crafts were very simple with lots of wiggle room.  With both the kite and the windsock we started by decorating the paper we used to make our craft.  I had stickers and stamps, felt pens and colored pencils.  Some of the kids were finished in an instant, others sat down and meticulously placed stickers side by side in a planned pattern.  We also had play dough out.  The kids seemed to really enjoy working with the playdough too.  Today was an example of how kids like to revisit the familiar.  Paper, felt pens, stickers, stamps, playdough, rolling pins, water play, hanging laundry….these are all things all these kids are familiar with.  This hot day was the perfect time to hang out in the shade and work with familiar materials in a comfortable way.

It was so hot that we didn’t eat our lunch out on the front lawn as we usually do.  It seemed cooler in the craft area so I spread the blankets out on the gravel in the shade.  As everyone ate lunch I read some poetry…..it was a very sweet moment.

From Gnomes

 We had an invasion of gnomes at camp this week.  I had fun cutting branches from my oak and pine trees to create “starters” for the kids and grown ups to transform into gnomes.  I drew faces on some of the sticks and left the rest blank.  Most of the kids chose the blank sticks to create their own interpretation of the project.  We were making gnomes; you know, beards and pointy hats.  Oh no, that’s not the whole story.  Many of the kids wanted clothes, shirts and dresses, some with beards and dresses some with no beards.  Everyone loved this project.  This was something I found online at That Artist Woman.  I’ve used lots of her ideas.  Take a peek it’s a great website.

From st paradchute gnomes

“We have loved Gail’s classes!!!! There is wonder there, and calm away from the chores and mess, etc that can make home feel chaotic. It invites me and my child to explore together and take a respite from the daily grind of whatever power struggles or the like we might be going through and truly enjoy one another and enjoy the day we have been given.”  This is the comment Anna made on the Sono-Ma website in response to the article written about Smiling Tree Camp.

Wonder,respite,enjoy one another, these are the words I love to hear people say about their time at camp.  Thank you Anna for your kind words.

Featured on Sono-Ma…please comment

Smiling Tree Camp has been featured on the Sono-Ma website again and I’m very excited.  Sometimes it takes hearing it from other people to know whether what you’re doing is right or not.  Holly, “the” Sono-Ma has described Smiling Tree Summer Camp in a way I never could and in a way I hope everyone who comes to camp agrees with.  If you’ve got the time please take a minute to visit her site and make a comment on the  article about my camp.  While you’re there look around and find some of the cool things she has to share.  The article about Smiling Tree is in the “Live Local” section, in the “Earth Centered” section of the website there is a story (with tutorial) about a mom who built a play kitchen for her child out of an old entertainment center she bought on Craig’s list for $20……….it’s adorable!!  There is also a local pediatrician, Mark Sloan who writes a regular column.  Dr Sloan’s article about pesticides and ADHD is in the body and soul section of the site.  By the way, I have an ad on the home page.  There’s lots to see in this new website and I’m proud to be featured there.

From Collages

These are the kids’ favorite poses

We Are Peaceful                         From Collages

 A peaceful moment for 6 wiggly kids

This has been a great year of yoga for this group of preschoolers.  The group changes over the school year.  Some kids come in to give it a try and it’s not a fit at that moment, some come and go and come back again, other stay.  This group has pretty much been together for two years and it’s been fun to see them growing.  These kids really enjoy yoga and there are moments in our fun and sometimes crazy class that they are peaceful.  I managed to capture  a peaceful moment in the photos. 

From Collages Art/still life

I brought the still life project to one of my “Nanny families”.   While Amelia’s Grandma was visiting from Wisconsin I set up the still life.  It was so sweet to see the two of them working side by side, using the same materials to create very different, very much the same finished products.  I love that Amelia’s mom framed the paintings and displayed them side by side in her hallway “gallery”.

From st graton art day

I’ve been excited about this class ever since I came up with the idea.  My inspiration was from a kids’ art blog, Laugh, Paint, Create.   I’ve made several trips to the Graton Art Gallery, had several telephone conversations with Pam Lewis, one of the resident artists.  To make this a fun outing for the kids and adults I put together an “I Spy” which directed everyone through the current exhibit.  Each adult/child had a mini clip board and a list of things to find ie angry red dog, spiral strawberry,  white house etc.  I encouraged everyone to talk about the art, look for familiar shapes, favorite colors, texture; we talked about stills life’s and abstracts.  It was great seeing every comfortably exploring the art gallery.  We talked about being respectful of the art and all the kids were welcome to touch all the art that was in the sculpture garden.  Before we left the gallery Pam generously offered one of her art print cards to each of the children.

From the gallery we came to Smiling Tree.  We had a snack, a story and created a still life and abstract painting.  I love when parents and kids work side by side.  Each had their own canvas and their own interpretation of the art.  Aren’t the side by side photos adorable!  I loved this workshop and hope to do it again!!!

Another fun parent/child activity at Smiling Tree Farm here in Santa Rosa.  When parents sign up for this “cooking” class they know they are signing up for a sweet morning filled with sugar and more sugar.  For some of the kids this is their one big sweet splurge.  One of the moms said they elimate any conflict about too many sweets by not having any in their house at all.  A dad said they reserve sweets for special occasions.  So, today was that day.  We had plates of sugar cookies in enticing shapes (hearts of all sizes, doves, teddy bears and little sweet men).  Each child had their own dish of candy toppings including m&m’s, raisins, red hots and of course conversation hearts.  After several cookie decorating workshops I’ve realized this is a way to have portion control and no worries about little fingers and possible “cross contamination”.  Some of the kids piled their cookies high with frosting, sprinkles and candies.  Some ate their candies first then decorated with icing only.  The kids and parents were free to decorate and eat as many cookies as they wanted.  My hope was that they would take home more than they ate but it was probably a toss up. 

After everyone had their fill of decorating we moved into the living room and strung love bead braclets.  It was such a beautiful day that the kids wanted to go outside to play so off everyone went to swing and explore.  We came back inside for stories, songs and a cup of tea and hot chocolate and one more cookie and cupcake for the road.  This was definetly a sweet day of sugar, quality time and memory making.

Special thanks to my friend Robin who helped me set up and keep things going…and clean up too….what a friend!!

 Cookies, cupcakes and frosting were all made for scratch.  Here are my recipes:

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes (from Martha Stewart)

makes 18-24 regular cupcakes …. 83 mini cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder                                                                                              1 1/2 cups flour                                                                                                                              1 1/2 cups sugar                                                                                                                             1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda                                                                                                        3/4 teaspoons baking powder                                                                                                      3/4 teaspoons salt                                                                                                                           2 large eggs                                                                                                                                     3/4 cup warm water                                                                                                                        3/4 cup buttermilk                                                                                                                          3 tablespoons vegetable oil                                                                                                            1 teaspoon vanila extract

1. preheat oven to 350.  Line muffins with paper liners.  Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

2.  Divide batter evenly among muffins cups, filling each 2/3 full.  Bake until tops spring back when touched , about 20minutes for full sized, 10minutes for mini cakes.

 Gail’s Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies — my girlfriend Carol named these, I think I found the recipe in a magazine and it’s the one that all my kids took to class and entered in the Sonoma County fair. 

4 1/2 cups flour                                                                                                                               1tsp baking powder                                                                                                                      1/2 tsp baking soda                                                                                                                         1/2 tsp salt                                                                                                                                    1/4 tsp nutmeg                                                                                                                              

1 cup soft butter                                                                                                                             1 1/2 cups sugar                                                                                                                             1 egg                                                                                                                                               1/2 cup sour cream                                                                                                                        1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Beat butter, sugar and egg till light and fluffy.  At low speed, beat in sour cream and vanilla till smooth.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating till well combined.  Wrap in waxed paper or foil:  refrigerate several hours or overnight. Divide into 4 parts then roll out and cut.

Bake at 350 degrees aprox 8 minutes

Note:  I still wrap sandwiches in waxed paper but find this telling of how old this recipe is that it reccomends waxed paper or foil…..I wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze

Frosting…..one of the dads asked if it’s easy to make frosting…..YES!

Powdered sugar, some butter, a little bit of milk, sprinkle of vanilla, dash of salt…..beat ’til smooth and fluffy……………I’m pretty sure there’s a real recipe on the box of powdered sugar

We had such fun at our cooking/sewing class here in Santa Rosa.  We made Pumpkin Bread and stitched little fabric pendants.  We snacked on mini muffins and everyone took home their loaf of bread and string  of pendants to decorate their homes. 

From Collages

As part of our cooking theme I set up a little sniff and smell game.  I had dishes of whole spices ( cinnimon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger) and the same spices in ground form the kids and grown ups grated the whole spices and tried to match to the ground….fun/interesting.  We also went out to the garden and picked some carrots, beets and radishes.  The carrots were planted last fall aren’t they pretty!

Sometimes the kids’ art gets left here.  I love these two pieces so much I ”hung” them on the wall under our oil painting of Howard’s Cafe in Occidental.  My photography doesn’t do any of these pieces justice.  The kids’ art has a lot of texture and movement.  These pieces have inspired me to offer some “real art” classes in the future.  I’ve changed the way I set up the paints for class.  Lately I’ve been giving each child a pallete (pie pan) with three colors.  They get to mix their colors and see cause and effect right in their pallete.

From Cassidy & Jackson w/Gail

From Collages

From st autumn

I loved these pumpkin projects.  I like to make a sample of the projects before camp and it’s always fun to see what the kids do with the materials provided.  They always find a way of personalizing their work.  I’ve seen paper bag pumpkins before.  They look like paper sacks stuffed and painted….cute.  Our paper bag pumpkins were little works of art!!  This was a two day project.  Each child  started with a pallet of yellow, red, and a little dab of golden color .  It was fun seeing the kids mix their colors and create orange!!  We talked about how pretty the bright clear spots of red and yellow looked with the blended orange.  The kids put the paper bag on one hand and painted with the other.  I saw these beautiful (I think they’re beautiful) pumpkins on the website That Artist Woman .  We found twigs and real leaves in the yard to complete our project on the second day.  The fun thing the kids did was not limiting themselves to one stem or one green pipe cleaner to finish off their pumpkin.  Some pumpkins had fist fulls of moss covered sticks attached and a whole range of green fuzzy spiraled tendrils….wonderful!!

More Pumpkins!

Our other pumpkin project was made of yarn….very simple.  I found this project at Make and Takes.  We changed the yarn from red to orange and changed a little red apple to a little orange pumpkin!  The kids wrapped yarn around a piece of cardboard 80 times!!!  It was an opportunity to have fun with counting and they ended up with a sweet little pumpkin.

From Collages

More Pumpkins!!

We made Pumpkin Cookies a couple weeks ago and I promised to post the recipe.  Here’s the 2 cookie recipe we used at camp made with whole wheat flour and honey  and another recipe for pumpkin cookies I’ve used for years that make lots of cookies.  As you can see by the condition of “The Great Pumpkin” recipe it has been well used.  I’ve gone from using the full amount of white sugar to none to finally settling on “about” half the original amount.  I don’t usually make these cookies as large as the recipe calls ….too big for little ones.  When my kids were little I made these with the stem, no white sugar and outlined with orange buttercream frosting and two little buttercream leaves on top….plenty sweet

From st misc october 09 pumpkins etc

  We often have the kids do “real” sewing at camp.  Today was a little different, we did a group project.  With real “pointy” needles the kids sewed a face for our scarecrow, stuffed a shirt, coveralls then put everything together to create the body then plopped the head on top.  During the process some kids were stuffing, some were sewing the face and at one point everyone was sewing colorful patches on the scarecrow’s shirt and coveralls.  The group aspect made this really fun.  There were a few pokes with the needles but no tears and everyone learned what sharp means.

From scarecrow collage

I think this guy is so cute!  Here’s the link to find out how you can make one for yourself…..I know, I’ve got too much time on my hands!!!!! http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/skeleton-papercraft-project.html

From st october pumpkins scarecrow

From Collages

I’ve been having a blast teaching kids’ yoga here in Santa Rosa.  Right now I have my preschool group at Beth Ami preschool and a group of elementary school aged kids at Spring Creek school.  My teaching has evolved.  As always my emphasis with kids is to have fun and sneak in  some “serious” relaxation techniques and real yoga poses of course.  With kids this age it’s easy for things to get out of control.  I’ve found that switching it up with some outside time on these warm autumn days and alternating using our yoga mats and having freedom from the mat keeps things fresh.  I also bring different props such as little stuffed animals, pinwheels to use during deep breathing exercises,  my parachute is a big hit too and today I placed a smooth glass stone on each child’s forhead during final relaxation……. ahhhh relaxation

 This week I taught my first teacher/staff class for Rincon Valley Union School District staff.  I call the teachers’ class, Yoga R&R ( Rest and Restore).  My idea is to provide  a quiet, peaceful place at the end of the school day for the teachers.  Everyone comes in, lies down, put their feet up on a chair and their heads on a blanket then breaths.  I reminded the group to take a deep breath and heard one of the teachers say it was the first time she took a breath all day.  While we start out slowly and warm up, I will gradually add more and more challenging poses as the group gains strength and flexibility.  The group includes teachers who are new to yoga and some that have a daily personal practice.  After class everyone left quietly rested and invigorated at the same time.  I felt the same way; peaceful and happy.  I’d love to offer more teacher / adult classes. 

From Collages

I often say “it’s the process, not the product”, meaning enjoy the art of getting dirty, learning by experimenting, put out all the supplies and let the kids enjoy creating their own work.  The “tie dye project I had to remind myself of that theory.  Don’t worry about the end product just enjoy the process.  I must admit I was disappointed in the end result but the process was very colorful and fun.  I saw this project online and experimented as I usually do before offering a project for camp.  I used Dollar Store tissue paper and it didn’t work at all.  I searched all over town for “bleeding tissue paper” which was recommended, so once I found it I figured it would work.  But, no,  we barely got any color transfer but like I said, the process was fun.  The other project, marble painting was fun and the end result was great.  I think so any way, on both counts.  I put out small tubs of paint and a big bowl of marbles.  The kids dropped marbles in paint then transferred them with a spoon to a box with a sheet of paper on the bottom.  The kids rolled the marbles back and forth, creating their painting.  One of the interesting things about this technique is that the kids could add as many colors as they like and the art still didn’t get muddy.  The kids got to choose their paint colors, practice transferring with spoons, then picking up paint covered marbles with their bare hands and some of the kids even washed the marbles…..more messy fun at camp.

From chickens at camp

We’ve had a chicken inspired time at camp. In anticipation of our neighborhood chickens coming for a visit we had a few projects for grown ups and for the kids.  The moms cut out felt chickens and spent a few minutes each week sewing as I “worked” with the kids.  We worked in the garden digging compost and  looking for worms.  We planted Swiss chard seeds and painted cardboard chickens .  While the kids and I explored and created the moms chatted and stitched.  One mom said her family would be impressed that she “made” something.  I think even if you’re not particularly crafty or creative just having a little time to “play” with creative materials can be relaxing and inspiring for adults.  We topped off our chicken series with a visit from our neighborhood hens, Rosalita and Mamacita.  Everyone had a chance to hand feed these gentle birds and all the moms who started a felt chicken, finished it!!!   

From mouse house

I had so much fun making this little house.  I saw a similar one at the Bennett Valley Preschool and fell in love with it.  I’m told there’s one at a school in Healdsburg as well and a whole story that goes along with it.  It seems there’s a little mouse that lives in the house and is away working at the cheese factory while the kids are at school.  I built our Smiling Tree, house out of scraps of wood and twigs, stones and moss.  I built the house and painted some little stones with mice and bugs and an owl.  I tried not to draw too much attention to the little house even though I was excited about it.  I’m thrilled to see the kids stop to play with it and sit and imagine.  Today three little boys sat together and discussed what might live in the house.  One of the boys was quite sure that a fairy of some sort lives there…..so cute!!

One of our books this week was ”Not A Box” by Antoinette Portis, also the author of “Not A Stick”.  Who hasn’t at one time in their lives preferred to play with the box more than the gift inside?  In “Not A Box” , the simple stick figure rabbit imagines his/her box is a boat, a rocket ship, robot; everything but a box.  Of course in “Not a Stick”  the stick is a sword, fishing pole, conductors baton…..  I love these books and so do the kids.  It’s an open invitation to imagine whatever they like.

From Collages

Since we did this project I’ve had some feedback from parents and actually got to see how the kids are playing with their “boxes”.  Emma turned her house upside down, and turned it into a “SUV”  she doesn’t have a SUV but that’s what she told me she was putting her stuffed animals in.  In they went , Emma joined them and took them for a drive.  In and out, in and out up and over, she had lots of fun with her box (not a box)car.  Emma’s box was just a box with a door cut into it.  River’s box was a little more sophisticated.  She had a windshield and steering wheel.  I’m told she has been “driving” all over town.  What started as a fun painting project at camp lives on at home.

We also decorated little “treasure” boxes….glue, glitter, sequins, stickers!!!!  what fun

From st gemma theo joel lucas from theo mom

Here are a couple pictures I love that were taken way back last winter/spring.  Theo’s mom emailed them to me and I just figured out how to save them to my computer then move them to my Piccasa account for use here……wow!  I did it but it wasn’t easy!…..I’m so not a computer person!

At any rate it was a beautiful day and we were having fun with the scarf chase game and a walk to our “listening tree”  We haven’t gone to the listening tree all summer.  It’s just outside our gate and down the gravel drive way.  I go out with the kids and a few parents (not necessarily all of them).  We stop at the big oak tree and just listen….quiet!…..listen…..

From st gemma theo joel lucas from theo mom

We met online.  It seemed like a perfect match so I invited Holly and her 3 year old son to come to camp and check it out.  Holly and her son Bryles had a great time and Holly wrote a wonderful review of our parent/child camp on her blog Sono-ma.blogspot.com…..cute!   Holly noticed and acknowledged all the little things that I hope people “feel” when they come to camp.

 Holly keeps an ongoing calendar of free family/kid related events in the area on her blog.  Her posts are related to her life as a mom in Sonoma county.  You’ll find tips on canning and where to find wild blackberries , her favorite beach and much loved trails.  Check out her blog and the great write up she did on Smiling Tree Farm……take a minute to comment.

 We had fun with worms today.  We built a worm farm by layering dirt and sand in a clear plastic bottle then dug up worms from the compost heap and added them along with some food (lettuce, apple peel) .  We also painted toilet paper roll worms and peeled some organic apples with worm holes…..no worms there!  The idea with the worm farm is that we cover the bottle with paper so that the worms have darkness which they like .  Then you can peek at their work by removing the cover and seeing where the worms have been by the trail of sand they leave.  I’m anxious to hear back from everyone to see if their worms ate the food and made sand trails up and down the side of the bottle.  Everyone can enjoy watching their worms then dump them out into their garden so they can help make the flowers and plants grow stronger.

From st misc + worms

Joshua loves peppers so he helped me harvest a “sweet treat”

From st misc + worms

I’m happily doing some more nanny/doula “work”.  The family I’m helping has a charming and bright 3 1/2 year old girl and a sweet new 3-4month old baby boy.  I brought our prayer flag project to do with Emma.  We put a little spin on the project though.  Instead of using koolaide to dye the flags we used beet juice.  The beet juice was great because it gave Emma an opportunity to taste fresh cooked beets.  I boiled, peeled and sliced the beets then had Emma use a small cookie cutter to cut the beets into Teddy bear shapes.  That was all well and good, she cut the beets and arranged the little beet bears on the plate but was quite sure she didn’t want to eat them……we’ll try again another time!  The other thing that was different about the project was that Emma stitched the flags on the cord.  At camp we stapled the flags on but with plenty of time Emma stitched the flags herself.  The way we did the sewing was I poked the needle in and she pulled it through until she got the hang of it and then did it all herself.  I helped by holding the work for her. 

I explained to Emma that the idea was that when you hang your flags and the wind catches them it takes good wishes all ’round the world.  She asked if good wishes would go to her Uncle Jeff and I said yes…so sweet!

I love when I capture a moment, an expression, an emotion with my camera.  I love taking pictures.  Every once in a while I won’t have my camera or I’m too busy living the moment to take time away to take a picture.  I often hear myself say “oh, that would be a great photo” and acknowledging the moment is gone I say, ” we’ll just have to remember what it felt like” or how “beautiful it was”.  It’s great to have a photo record of an event but sometimes the camera can keep us from being part of the action; we’re recording it not living it.  With our quick digital cameras I often see children run to the camera to see the picture , abandoning the fun photo-worthy activity they were only moments ago involved in. Before I had kids I was a “serious” photographer.  I had a big heavy camera with interchangable lenses and even had a darkroom at one time.  Once I had children I realized I was missing a lot of the fun by “hiding” behind the camera.  I bought a point and shoot camera and then a digital.  Now that my kids are all grown up I have my Smiling Tree kids to take pictures of.  I still feel like I’m torn between recording the fun and being part of the fun.  …….this little ramble is brought to you by my regret that I didn’t get more pictures of our ice cream making fun…………hmmmm  we’ll just have to remember how much fun it was and how delicious the ice cream was!

When my kids were young we made kick the can ice cream.  It was so much fun.  We put our ingredients in a coffee can, added a spoon as an agitator then taped it up with duct tape then put that can into another can with ice and salt then taped that can up then proceeded to kick or roll the can back and forth until we had ice cream.  This is something my kids still talk about.  Well, I found an easier way with zip lock bags.  Here’s the You tube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRDsW_p4LA

I didn’t get many pictures but the ice cream did turn out……..delicious!  A couple things I’d add to the instructions is to be sure to use heavy duty freezer bags especially for the milk mixture. The bags are great because you can see how your ice cream is setting up. Be careful with the salt.  We make our ice cream on our front lawn so I asked everyone to be careful when they opened the bag not to spill the salt water.  Remove as much air from the inner (milk) bag this way the liquid gets the most surface to coldThis only make a small portion but enough to enjoy the magic of turning milk and sugar into ice cream in less than 10 minutes.   Truth be told the parents probably were more intriqued with the process than the kids but everyone enjoyed the ice cream.  This is something I’d do over and over.  Make it a summer tradition the kids will want to repeat and will remember.

From st misc windsocks

Stephenie my niece (great-niece) and helper often makes our samples.  Here shes’ making a Smiling Tree Camp windsock…….thanks Steph

 This is a fun project we did earlier in the summer and I’m just now posting it.  This was a great project because the kids had fun making the windsock then took them out to the front lawn for a run and when they were tired we all enjoyed watching them blow in the breeze.

Do you remember dyeing carnations when you were a kid?  I do.  We’d put white carnations in jars with colored water and the carnations would change color….magic!   I saw some Queen Anne’s Lace dyed the same way…..beautiful!  I thought it would be a fun project for camp so I tried it.  I learned you need to start with darker water than I used.  After a few days I noticed a faint color change but not much.  The flowers were pretty in the colored water jars though.  You can find Queen Anne’s lace growing along the road side all over “West County”.  I don’t think anyone minds if you pick it.

We had a busy day at camp. Started by picking blackberries then everyone made cheesy pretzels. I wanted to try dyeing Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring but my prototype didn’t work very well so I went ahead and picked a big bouquet of flowers for the kids to cut blossoms from to make “flower arrangements” in baby food jars. I encouraged the kids collect greenery from around the yard to add to their creations. The pretzels were left to rise while the kids played and had fun with their craft projects.

The pretzels were delicious!  I’m always amazed how well the recipes we use turn out.  The recipe may call for 1/2 teaspoon of yeast but the kids sometimes measure out 1/4 teaspoon or 1+!  If the grown up has an eagle eye they can compensate with the other ingredients or add a little something more to make the  concoction  closer to the recipe.  One way or another our baking always turns out great.  Here’s the recipe for our pretzels

From st anne’s lace cheese pretzels

Cheese Pretzels……makes 2-4

½ tsp yeast

3 TB warm water

Let dissolve

½ tsp sugar

½ cup flour

2 TB grated Cheddar cheese

Stir & Knead

Cut into 2/4 pieces

Roll into “worms”, shape

Brush with beaten egg

Sprinkle with kosher salt …. I’ve also sprinkled sesame seeds and garlic granules !

Bake at 425degrees 15minutes

Enjoy

It was an easy, breezy day at camp. Everyone seemed to be drawn to the hammock…..ahhhhh….a quiet moment

We started camp with a quick run around and a few songs then off to explore and create.  Our project this week was our take on Tibetan Prayer flags.  I’m sure you’ve seen these flags flying in different places around town or maybe seen pictures of them flying on mountain tops in Tibet…one of our moms has been to Tibet and has seen the flags there first hand.  The colors of the flags represent different things:  yellow-earth, blue-space (spirit), green-air (wind) etc.  Each flag has a prayer or good wish for healing, happiness in the world.  The idea is to hang the flags where the wind will catch them and blow the good wishes ’round the world……..wonderful!  Our flags were made on unbleach muslin, decorated with permanent markers then dyed by dipping in a solution of koolaide, vinegar and salt.  This “dye” is not permanent on cotton but was fun to work with and safe.  The kids hung their flags on the clothesline to dry then we strung them together so they could take them home and find a place to hang them so the wind will catch them.

As you can see in the slide show a couple grown ups found a moment to themselves to create.  I love when parents have a moment to themselves.  When you have small children that is often hard to come by.  Most parents don’t have a chance to create and play with art so when they can do it here at camp I think it’s a special treat.  While I set the projects up for the kids and ask parents to let the kids do their own thing I love the bonding that occurs when parent and child work side by side; parent available to help if needed, child free to explore as they choose.

Our neighbor horses came for a visit at the fence and all the kids who wanted to fed them watermelon.  I usually instruct the parents on how to help their child feed the horses but today I helped the kids.  I learned this from a “horsey mom”….hold the food by the end with plenty sticking out for the horse to get…carrots, long pieces of watermelon etc.   The child holds the food and the grownup covers the child’s entire hand with their own (protecting the child’s fingers).  I’m not comfortable with the method of holding the food on my out stretched palm….too many little fingers to get in the way!

After feeding the horses we buried the rest of the watermelon rinds in the compost pile.  This was another object of fascination.  The kids love looking at all the wiggly worms.  We’ll be making a worm farm in the next couple weeks…..the kids will love that!

 We used markers, stickers and rubber stamps to decorate cardstock (1/4 page) and make postcards.  The kids and parents made their postcards then addressed them to Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.  I made arrangements for our mail man to drive back and pick up our handmade postcards.  The kids where thrilled to have the mail truck drive up and hand their cards to the mail man.  It was fun and funny to see how excited the kids were…..who’d a known!

We had fun with parent/child yoga at camp.  Everybody got in the act with tree pose, plough, cobra and a nice relaxing balloon breath.

From Collages

Inspired by an article in Mothering Magazine we gathered herbs and flowers from the garden; lavender, roses, thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, and some unidentified bits of green the kids found.  We made a tea with the fragrant herbs and flowers and while the tea steeped we wrapped more herbs and flowers in a square of fabric with a cotton ball to absorb a few drops of grapefruit essential oil.  The fabric sachet was to take  to enjoy a foot bath at home then the hot herb tea was added to a small tub of cool water for the kids and moms to take a foot soak…..so sweet!  I hope everyone will find time sit with their kids and soak their feet and share a special moment.  I imagine a cool soak on a hot afternoon while sipping iced tea or a warm soak on a cold day with a story and maybe a cup of hot cocoa.

From st apple peeling

We usually have our picnic lunch at around 11:30am.  I ring the bell, we wash our hands then gather on quilts and blankets on the front lawn.  It works out great;  I usually have something to share and before the meal is over everyone has a chance to get a little something from someone else’s lunch (other people’s lunch seems to much more interesting than our own).  This day the kids were hungry well before lunch time.  I got out the apple peeler and a couple apples and we were ready for a snack and a fun activity.  Everyone likes to try turning the apple peeler/corer so we took turns and shared the apple…..yummm!

From fun run

We love run and chase games.  Today we stuck a scarf in our back pocket or waist band and chased around trying to grab each others scarf.  I love when the kids and parents all join in.

From st foot prints

This was such a sweet project.  It is of course more than a foot print scroll to hang up and admire.  It’s the special closeness of moms and dads and grandmas holding their little one’s feet; a little tickle, a little joke , painting their feet then lovingly washing them.  I loved this.  When I say it’s the process not the product I guess I mean it because I managed to not take a picture of the finished scrolls, just the closeness of making them.

From hand prints plaster relief

This was a fun project.  We made playdough molds of the kids’ hands and feet then filled them with plaster of Paris.  All the little wrinkles and lines showed up.  Some of the prints were given as Father’s Day gifts

We had another beautiful day at camp.  The kids are ready for water play.  They’re loving the wash tub and clothes line.  We painted, played with play dough and the kids all went home with some clay.  Our picnic was especially sweet; everyone cuddled on the quilts and blankets and listened to stories.  Well….some stayed for the story while others were free to roam.

I really had a blast teaching tyoga to the kindergarten through 3rd graders through the Rincon Valley School District afterschool program.  Here are some photos from our last day.  I’m sorry not everyone was there so I could have their pictures.  I hope to offer yoga to the 4th-6th graders next fall and maybe even have an afterschool class for teachers…..we’ll see

(photo slideshow removed)

Today I had my first adult yoga class on the deck at Smiling Tree Farm.  How exciting!!  I’ve been worrying about it being too hot and providing shade.  As it turns out it was overcast and a little chilly; not the best for outdoor yoga.  I made a pot of hot tea and greeted my chilly yogis with a cup to warm things up before we started.  My intent is to provide a class for people brand new to yoga.  In today’s class we had a thirty something mom with obvious yoga experience, an 87 year old woman with lots of spunk and a “killer down dog” (this was her first ever yoga class).  There was a woman who has had knee surgery and one with pretty serious carpal tunnel .  This was a great test for me.  I provided adjustments and props to make the poses as comfortable as possible.  Practicing yoga out doors is magical.  Lying back and looking up into the oak tree while doing Supta Padangusthasana is spectacular!

From st button flowers, scarf hunt

Todays main project was a sewing project for the kids and moms to work on together.  I got the idea for this project online at Chasing Cheerios. I got everything set up in advance by using an iron- on fusible webbing to attach green gingham stems and floral leaves to the blue and white background.  The children chose their buttons and with the help of their grown up sewed them onto the background.  My suggestion was that the moms start by pushing the needle from the bottom up through the button.  The kids pulled the needle and thread through then poked it back down through the button.  Mom and child worked together to sew the buttons on.  Once the buttons were sewn on the kids chose felt and fabric to create their flowers.  Moms cut a slit in each fabric piece so they could practice buttoning while they create their flowers.  This was a sweet project because it wasn’t too much for the kids, it caused them to work closely with their parent and the moms were free to add their own personal touch.  I had intended to mount the finished piece on a piece of foam core board so the kids could take their button flower board with them and “play” with it as they practice their buttoning.  One of the moms had the idea of making the piece into a pillow.  The idea was a hit so most everyone took their project home to complete.

From smiling tree camp starts May 09

There’s a different feel around Smiling Tree Farm…..summer’s in the air!  The days are warmer so we’ve got the wash tub out and the kids are washing laundry and hanging it on the line.  The quilts and wool blankets are off the beds and spread on the front lawn for our picnic lunch.  We painted flower pots and planted marigolds in the pots to take home and planted some in the garden to enjoy here at camp all summer long.  I’m looking forward to having lots kids and parents spend some quality time  together here in “wine country”

From smiling tree last of the carrots

This group of kids seemed to enjoy picking the carrots from the garden at Smiling Tree Farm the most.  They treated it as a hunt….hunt for carrots, hunt for worms, hunt for bugs and snakes.  Today we found a fuzzy catepillar and picked the last of the winter carrots before getting ready for our spring / summer garden.  While Katie and the others painted pine cones, Mac decided he wanted to paint a stick (5 feet long!) he found…..it’s all good!

This is just a follow-up to the April Newsletter…………

Rattle Snakes…..yes

Yes, we live in rattle snake “country”.  I received an email from a mom who has enjoyed the sculpture garden at Paradise Ridge Winery and wanted to report that she saw a rattle snake there.  It wasn’t this spring but you can be sure that there are snakes all around Santa Rosa.  My feeling is there are snakes and mosquitoes and ticks and poison oak and all the lovely little critters surrounding us in nature. I don’t believe this is  a reason to avoid the great outdoors. 

To get more info on rattle snakes and reinforce my idea that we should be out in nature I called the Spring Lake Environmental Discovery Center and spoke with Kristina Stanton.  Kristina who happens to be a mother of a 2year old agrees that we should be out in nature enjoying it safely with our children.  She shared some basic guidelines for staying safe outdoors and general information about being in nature.

·         Stay on the trail….most county parks have maintained trails.  By staying on trails you can see where you’re walking and what’s ahead

·         Avoid tall grass….that’s where ticks hang out….again, stay on the trail!

·         Lyme’s disease is rare in Sonoma county

·         Hike in the morning….avoid the heat of the day;  that’s when snakes come out

·         Don’t climb on or turn over large rocks…..that’s where rattle snakes hide

·         Baby Rattle snakes are more dangerous than adults. 

·         If you see a snake on the trail stop, back away, don’t threaten the snake and pass only if safe

·         King Snakes (black and white stripes) are quite docile and safe

The Environmental Discovery Center is near the east entry to Spring Lake on Violleta Drive and is opened Wednesday through Sunday 12noon to 5pm.  From the center it’s a short walk to the look- out deck which overlooks Spring Lake and Santa Rosa.  I must be honest, it’s been years since I’ve been to the center but my kids loved to go to the look-out deck and play in the amphitheater behind the center when they were little.

The cost to enter Spring Lake Park is $7. Per car

A few more things:

Smiling Tree Farm Camp…  Next Wednesday will be the start of a new 3week session.  In my excitement to send the last newsletter I left out some important information.   Age range for camp:  2-6years .  I’ve had younger and older kids but the range is usually 2-4 with the occasional older sibling….there’s something for everyone. (sibling discount)   Babies are always welcome at no charge.  The time for camp is 10am-12noon. 

There’s still room in the Wednesday group.  I have Thursday available for private groups if you’d like to set up a one- time class (minimum 4 kids). 

Check the website for details and summer schedule

Yoga-Art-Cooking

I’m planning a special mini- camp for 6-10year olds.  This camp will be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 1:30-3:30 or 4pm, June and July.  Still working out the details but it will be approximately an hour of yoga with art and a cooking project.  Let me know if you’re interested.  I’ll set the date soon.

Free Yoga…Alfresco (Outdoors!)

The Friday morning yoga class I mentioned in my last newsletter is for adults.

  Please contact me if you’d like to come…FREE….really!

Thanks, now get outside and play!

I’m still making sock monsters for anyone who brings a sock to class. Here’s Megan with her new monster.

From misc for website

We’ve been “working” in the garden.  This day we moved buckets of compost down to our new kids’ strawberry patch.  Everyone was intrigued by the worms.  Katie used her hat to hold her temporary collection of worms.

From st gardening worms etc

 Here’s a new favorite song from the very sweet book “Wiggle and Waggle” by Caroline Arnold 

A Digging Song

We wiggle and waggle, squiggle and squirm. 

 Digging in the dirt is the life of a worm. 

We Dig and we sing all day long,

Our wiggly, waggly, gardening song.

This was our only rainy day all winter during FUN School.  The kids put on their rain coats and carried their umbrellas and went out into the garden to harvest casrrots and dig for worms.  A sweet day.

From Collages

Somehow I didn’t post pictures from our Valentine Cookie Decorating Party…ooops! Better late than never.

From Collages

We had so much fun at the party.  Moms, dads, friends and kids, lots of cookies, frosting and sprinkles.  We decorated cookies and mini cupcakes and also made love bead bracelets.  I served the adults tea and the kids hot chocolate and we all gathered ’round and sang love songs.  Love songs, you know, “I Love You, You Love Me”…Love Is Something if You Give it Away”…”Tony Chest Nut Knows I Love You”.  We even sang “Hey Jude”……it was a fun day

I’ve been having so much fun making Sock Monsters for the kids who are coming to FUN School. I originally thought this was something the moms could do while they stayed inside sipping tea near the fire on our cold days. I would take the kids outside to play and explore and leave the moms inside. As it turns out we didn’t have that many cold mornings. This last session I asked each child to bring an old sock and I made these fun “monsters”….more to come!

From misc for website

I read some poetry to the kids today.  They liked it, the moms liked it, I liked it………….

My Favorite Word

There is one word-

My favorite-

The very, very best.

It isn’t No or Maybe.

It’s Yes, Yes, Yes,Yes, YES!

“Yes, yes, you may,” and

“Yes, of course,” and

“Yes, please help yourself.”

And when I want a piece of cake,

“Why, yes.  It’s on the shelf.”

Some Candy?  “Yes.”

A cookie? “Yes.”

A movie?  “Yes, we’ll go.”

I love it when they say my word:

Yes, Yes, YES! (Not No.)

                                            Lucia and James L. Hymes, Jr.

TREE HOUSE

A tree house, a free house,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches

Cozy as can be house

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure and wipe your feet house

Is not my kind of house at all-

Let’s go live in a tree house.

                                                                  Shel Silverstein

We did all things lemony today at Smiling Tree.  After comparing notes I realized that nearly everyone coming to Smiling Tree right now love lemons.  A couple of the moms have lemon trees in their yards and  heavy branches of lemons hanging over the fence from their neighbor’s tree.  I have a little lemon tree as well and have been bringing lemons from my cousin’s lemon tree in Sacramento.  So we have lemons!!! 

From Collages

Today the kids squeezed lemons and we made lemon bars….yummmm, lemon curd….yummmm, and lemonade….yumm!!!  We sampled all our creations with lunch and there was lemon curd and lemon bars to take home.

Here are the recipes:

Lemon Curd

(from the Joy of Cooking)

makes about 1 2/3 cups                                                                                   

In  a medium stainless-steel or enamel saucepan, whisk together until lignt in color    :

3 large eggs

1/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

Add:

1/2 cup lemon juice

6 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces

Cook, whisking over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Then whisk constantly until the mixture thickened and simmer gently for an a  few seconds.  Using a spatula, scrap the filling into a medium-mesh sieve set over a bowl and strain the filling into the bowl.   (I skipped this step…no straining for me) Stir in:

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Let cool, cover and refrigerate to thicken.  The keeps, refrigerated, for about 1 week.

I served a sampling of the lemon curd on buttered bread and sent everyone home with a small container each.

Tangy Lemon Bars 

makes 16 large or 24 smaller bars

for the crust

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

8 TBL (1cube) butter, melted

1 cup flour

for the topping:

1 cup plus 2TBL sugar

3 TBL flour

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice

1TBL powdered sugar for dusting

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line the bottom and up the sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, so that the foil hands over the edges.

First, make the crust.  Put the sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium  bowl and stir in the melted butter.  Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.  Press the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned at the edges and golden brown in the center.

While the crust is baking, make the topping.  Combine the sugar and flour in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  Whisk in the eggs and stir in the lemon zest and juice.

When the crust is cooked, slide out the rack with the pan and set it on a work surface.

Turn the oven to 300 degrees.

Pour the filling into the hot crust and carefully slide the rack with the pan back into the overn

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the topping no longer jiggles in the center when the pan is tapped.  Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool completely.  Lift up on the foil and transfer to a cutting board.

If the surface is covered with a thin layer of moist foam, blot it gently to reveal the zest.  Lay a square of paper towel on the surface and sweep your fingers over it gently to absorb excess moisture.  Remove the paper and repeat with a fresh piece if necessary.

Use a long sharp knife to cut into 16 2-inch or 24 smaller bars

Put the powdered sugar in a strainer and shake it over the cut bars.  Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

The bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator of three days without the crust becoming soggy.  To do so, do not use the powered sugar ; instead, shake it over the bars immediately before serving.

Lemonade

I just added water and sugar to fresh lemon juice….excellent!

From Collages

Everybody loved playing in the gooo!  We measured out corn starch and water (didn’t need to measure but it’s part of the process).  I put out food color and the kids explored mixing colors and creating new ones.  This goo is interesting in that the colors blend and separate and swirl around before blending again….fun!  I wanted to get these photos online so I’ll continue with the actual recipe and maybe a link to related stuff…

From Collages

My old PlayDATE neighbors at the birthing center are having an event this weekend which includes a silent auction.  The auction is currently online for everyone to peek and bid.  Here’s the link https://www.cmarket.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?_sourcePage=%2Fitem%2FbrowseImage.jsp&auctionId=69916951  I bid on the dinner and a movie; dinner at Flavors and 2 tickets to the Rialto Theater.  There are certificates from East West Cafe, Sushi Hana, some cute little crocheted kids hats, all kinds of baby, mom and birthing items, lots of wine and a gift certificate for a session of Smiling Tree FUN School or Summer camp!  Take a peek,  you might find a bargin and at the same time help support Better Beginnings. 

 Proceeds go to Better Beginnings, a new non-profit dedicated to promoting healthy pregnancies, supporting birth and breast-feeding, and mentoring positive parenting

From st body tracing

I’ve been studying anatomy for my yoga teacher training class.  As you can see Cecil has been my study partner.  The body tracing we did for my class was fun so I decided to make tracings of the kids at FUN School.  We measured the kid’s height then traced their bodies and talked about different body parts.  Emma drew in her ribs on the tracing her dad made of her.

From Collages

From Collages

This was a great day at FUN School. We played with play dough making figures of our dog Cecil, birthday cakes and little worms. Emma’s dad taught us and wiggley worm song then we went out in the garden to dig for worms. The kids had fun holding the worms then digging a deep hole to put them back in the ground. I was going to look in our compost pile for worms but found a sleeping snake instead……wow, what a day!

We’ve been having a great time at FUN School.  We made bagel peanut butter bird feeders and yummy oatmeal apple cookies.  Every week we take a little hike to the “listening tree” and have been crowing to the neighbor rooster.  The listening tree is just a stones throw but seems miles away to the kids especially if they leave their mom or dad back at the house.  When we get to the tree we stop and listen…..we hear birds and the wind and airplanes and cars.  Some mornings we do yoga and sing songs and play in the rice hulls outside.  The weather continues to be good with not enough rain.  We even play tag on the front lawn with our colorful scarves.

From Drop Box

We got a little bit of a late start….everyone wanted to watch our new president  being sworn in and listen to his inauguration speech.  It was an especially wonderful day.  We made hand print momentos of the day and shared a special little gingerbread muffin treat in celebration.

From inauguration 2009

You can usually find my husband, Brad and I at Mac’s on 4th Street Saturday mornings having breakfast.  As a matter of fact you can find many  of the same people at Mac’s most Saturday mornings…..  We’re “regulars”.  My husband and I recently saw an adorable “couple” sharing breakfast…..they’re regulars too.  David and his daughter Grace go out to breakfast on Saturday mornings.  This particular morning I over heard David ask, ” Are you ready for another bite?”  What a wonderful, respectful way to share a meal with a young child.  Grace is not yet two years old.  Most of us are concerned about what our kids eat, how much they eat, are they eating enough, are they eating healthy……..  I often hear parents proding their kids to eat “one more bite”  or “just a little more” or “you haven’t even touched your____”.  This dad calmly asked “Are you ready for another bite?”  I like it;  not too pushy, helpful yes but not demanding….good job!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, kids won’t starve themselves.  If we offer good choices, kids will eat a well rounded meal (in the course of a day or week) and you can avoid lots of “issuses” around food.

From breakfast at Mac’s

Grace and her dad sharing breakfast…..doesn’t she look proud to be with Dad….don’t they look alike!!!

The mural is downtown too.  Part of our Saturday ritual often includes a visit to Sawyer’s News and the mural is in a pass through near Russian River Brewery.  Stop there (the mural not necessarily the brewery) sometime to count the cows, imagine sitting under the oak trees and admire the beautiful art.

We (I) had so much fun at yoga class at Beth Ami Nursery School.  It’s been a little over a year since I’ve taught there and I had forgotten how much fun and how tiring working with preschoolers can be.  The kids were so bright and anxious to move their bodies and willing to do funny breathing and silly balancing.  During class I talk a lot about healthy choices, balance, movement, calmness and relaxation.  By the end of our class the kids were ready to lie down and relax…..so sweet!

 There were several parents who are interested in a weekly yoga class for their kids at Beth Ami.  I’ve also had parents from Maddie Washburn in Windsor and Proctor Terrace School in Santa Rosa ask about yoga at their schools.  My after school class at Spring Creek Elementary School in Santa Rosa is open for registration right now, the class will start in early February.  I would love to teach yoga everyday!  With my monthly trip to Sacramento for my advanced yoga studies class and my weekly yoga class and my home practice ( I get up at 5am most mornings) I’m a little yoga crazy and loving it!!

I had so much fun making this doll. 

One of my moms asked me to make a doll  as a gift for her niece.   She wanted something a little different; not anything too girly but still a set of dolls.  I suggested she find a book with a message she liked and I’d make a doll to match.  She found a wonderful book, “Violet the Pilot” by Steve Breen.  Violet is an inventor who builds an airplane and saves the day.   Violet is a  great roll model for girls.  She gets right in there and builds things even though others think she is odd.  In the end Violet  is the heroin .  Fun project for me, fun book too….I love the illustration simple yet detailed at the same time.  I made a violet felt pouch for Violet and her dog .From Collages Violet clothes pin doll

I’ve become a “granny-nanny”.  One of my Smiling Tree moms has a medical condition which is causing her much pain and after having her mom spend a month helping her out with the kids and her husband taking time off work and her brother coming up from the city to help I’ve answered the call for more help.  I’m delighted to be working with this family.  I’m picking the kids up from school and helping out with cooking, cleaning and laundry.

I picked the little one up from nursery school and my open window was too windy for him in the back seat so I closed the window.  During the short ride home we talked about push button windows and crank windows.  Once we arrived home I let the little boy open and close my car door window over and over and over again….he was throughly intrigued by this “new” gadget I let him work with.  It’s fun seeing the world through a 3year old’s eyes!

I’ve been visiting some wonderful blogs, many of them posted by homeschooling families.  While looking at Camp Creek Blog I realized we’re all homeschoolers! I believe everything we do is teaching and so home and car and super market are all “school”.  Much of what I do at Smiling Tree is what a homeschool family might do. The setting here is relaxed with lots of opportunities for exploration and discovery plus specific materials provided for special projects.   A term I learned on one of these blogs is “strewing”  , this is something I like to do at Smiling Tree; just place something out without mention and just see  who discovers it and what they do with it.   I usually have a plan for the materiels I set out but it’s always fun when parents and/or kids come up with new and different ways to use familiar materials.  It seems when ever there is paint out, leaves and rocks and oakgalls get painted along with paper.   I make an effort to set out or “strew”  interesting thing for the kids to find; little hand made dolls at kid eye level, a shark jaw in the bathroom, stethescope on the end table, magnifying glass on the picnic table.  On one particularly cold morning I didn’t have to do anything special for the kids to make it a “special” morning.  I took the kids outside while the moms stayed inside next to the warm fire.  During our walk outside we found a puddle of water frozen  with leaves suspended inside.  The kids loved breaking the ice and holding the frozen “stained glass” up to see the sun shining through the frozen leaves.  …..simple pleasures, wonderful discoveries….”home schooling”!

http://www.whiteoakschool.com/camp-creek-blog/

From Collages

 I baked 100’s of cookies for the families who came to the cookie decorating workshop.  Two different sugar cookies and a gingerbread cookie.  I’ll post the recipes soon.

From Collages

We had so much fun at our cookie decorating workshop.  I realized I should have called it a PARTY! not workshop.  There were cookies and sprinkles and candies forever; moms and dads, kids….brothers, sisters and cousins.  The kids started by choosing a plate full of cookies to decorate then just kept getting more until they were done then some of the kids went outside to play and some moved into the living room to string popcorn.  Everybody decorated cookies grown ups and kids alike.  After we finished decorating we had a cup of tea or hot chocolate and a few miniature cookies….it WAS a party!!!

What a fun day!!!  We started inside with a few songs, marble games and some craft projects.  Then I went outside with the kids while the moms stayed in next to the fire and hand stitched some ornaments.  We played outside then back inside to bake some cookies (snickerdoodles) then had lunch together….very sweet day.

From Collages

From Collages

From Collages

We went outside to feed the horses and they never came over so the kids decided to eat the carrots themselves.  We played in the rice hulls,  found a lady bug and went on a hike.  It was a fun and cold morning.

From Collages

Oh my it was cold this morning!!  We went out side to play and explore and found some ice with leaves frozen inside….beautiful!

From Drop Box

I made these little cotton hankies for the kids who are coming to my last FUN School class before Christmas.  I’m not sure if they’re hankies (wipe your nose) or napkins (wipe your mouth).  Either way I think they’re pretty cute and I hope they’ll be used and reused over and over again.

How to:  cut a 12″ square of cotton fabric, press a double 1/4″ hem, stitch the hem, embroider the initial (monogram)

From chocolate quotes hankies

This is a favorite thought of mine….simplicity!    I know I contradict that at times but mostly I like to notice and appreciate the “little things”  Yesterday I was in Ross and there was a little boy (not so little 8′ish?).  He had waited in line for his turn to approach the cashier with a stuffed animal in his arms.  The toy wasn’t priced and he wanted to know how much it cost.  The stuffed animal was obviously not for him, he would be too old for it. I imagined it was for a younger sibling or friend.  The woman next to me in line  looked over  and we acknowledged that this little thing the boy was doing was huge.  He looked a little nervous and uncomfortable but this was part of his gift giving experience and he was doing it on his own……something very touching about that.  I felt the woman and I were “celebrating one of the little things” of the season together.

From Drop Box

I love quotes, I love dark chocolate; what a great combo!  As a personal “sacrifice” I’m going to eat a piece of chocolate everyday so that I can share the enclosed quote…..such a sacrifice!!!

From Collages

We took a recipe for cloverleaf rolls and made Snowmen “people” rolls.  Here’s the recipe for individual portions:

Cloverleaf Rolls makes 2 rolls

1/2 tsp dry yeast

1/2 TBL warm water

1/2 tsp veggie oil

2 TBL butter milk

3TBL unbleach flour

beat vigorously

1/2 tsp sugar mix

(Sugar Mix : 1TBL sugar, 1/4 tsp salt ,1/8 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp baking soda)

2TBL + 1tsp whole wheat flour

stir vigorously

Knead dough until smooth

Form 6 balls, place 3balls each buttered muffin tin.  Cover, rise 20minutes, bake 400 7minutes

From Drop Box

 The kids stitched their felt starts with some help from their moms.  Some of the moms made their own stars……sometimes we want to do our own thing!

From thanksgiving violet pilot felt star

I found this idea online with a cute example stitched by a 2 year old.  Sorry I can’t seem to find the website .  We’re going to do this activity in FUN School next week.  I’ve cut out the stars and will have needles threaded with red, green and blue thread.  The kids will work with their grown ups.  The older kids will probably be able to stitch the two pieces together.  The younger kids will probably need their grown up to hold the star and direct the kids to poke the needle in and pull it out…..should be fun and cute!  I’ll post some pictures of the kids’ creations. 

From thanksgiving violet pilot felt star

From dim sum pie!!!

Fun day baking at Smiling Tree…..oh yes we had some issues….some of the buttery pastry on the pumpkin pies broke off and caused smoking and of course the smoke alarm kept screaming at us!!  Pastry leaves on our pumpkin pies made up for the droopy crust and the apple galettes were beautiful (no pictures).

At the end of the day I realized I couldn’t have spent my day before Thanksgiving in any better way.  By baking with my wonderful, sweet kids I get to be part of their Thanksgiving day too; a real treat for me.

From dim sum pie!!!

While our pies baked we had time to play outside and make  nature craft pine cone turkeys with leaves and acorns. It was a wonderful day topped off with a warm and cozy dinner with my family.

I made all the pastry for my pie baking workshop this morning and a couple “extras” for my family Thanksgiving celebration.  The workshop is Wednesday and the kids get to choose between a pumpkin pie or apple galette (rustic single crust pie)

From st pastry thanksgiving

Nine pie crust = 2 1/4 pounds butter, that’s a lot of butter!

Here are the ingregients for the pastry:

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1cube of butter

1 egg yolk

5 tablespoons iced cold water

I use a food processor to mix my pastry and if you really want instructions on how to make a “perfect”  pie crust let me know and I’ll give you detailed directions.

NOTE:  keep everything cold…..I put the flour and butter in the freezer the night before to get it really cold

From st thanksgiving turkey handprints etc wild turkey

Is there such a thing as too much handprint “art”?  Of course not!!!!   Aren’t these cute.  The trick here is to paint the kids’ hand then have them open wide then help them press down to make the print.  You can get two or three prints from one painting.  Don’t forget to have your child dip their pointer finger in the red paint so they can add a waddle.

From st thanksgiving turkey handprints etc wild turkey

From ST goopy soup Nov 2008

We haven’t made “goopy soup” at Smiling Tree in quite some time.  I thought it was more suited to summer weather so when we had a heat wave last week I decided to get all the goofy soup fix’ns .  I always get used coffee grounds from Starbucks and some rice hulls, rosemary, mint, gravel, lavendar and sand.  Tuesday was still warm so we had water with food coloring in an  assortment of bottles and pitchers so the kids get a chance to practice pouring.  By Wednesday it was “freezing” outside so we made dry soup.

From ST thanksgiving turkey hats 2008

We had some fun with Thanksgiving crafts and songs at Smiling Tree this week.  Here are a couple “turkey” songs we sang:

Gobble, gobble turkey, Thanksgiving-time is here; gobble, gobble turkey, Thanksgiving-time is here……… that’s it, over and over again until you’re tired of it!

From ST thanksgiving turkey hats 2008

“Strut Mr Turkey”

Who’s that struting ’round looking mighty perky?   Looks like it might be old Mr. Turkey. Strut Mr. Turkey that’s a fancy way to walk.   Strut Mr. Turkey that’s a fancy way to walk. 

We pranced and strutted around while we sang this song………so funny and fun!

From ST thanksgiving 2008

We made these cute turkey hats using brown paper grocery bags and construction paper.  The head band is aprox 3″ wide,  the face is a  3 1/2 “circle , both were cut from the bag. Even the littlest kids helped cut out their hats and used glue sticks and white glue to put them together with their mom’s help.

From misc st replace photos

Leaves, twigs, acorns + glue and just a touch of paint…………..art!

A book mark made by your child and a book or magazine would make a great holiday gift.  Maybe a sweet children’s book given to Dad with a message on the bookmark to “please read me this book Daddy”

Here’s a simple kid-made craft that can be given as a gift.  It’s my new favorite book mark.  With magnets it “sticks” to the page so you’ll never loose your place or your bookmark.  You may have seen these magnetic book marks at book stores, I love them.  I cut out strips of paper for the kids to draw or paint on then glued the “art” to strips of card stock and added the magnets.  The other option for decorating the book marks is to take the kids’ art and cut it in strips after it is complete, cropping and choosing the perfect section to make the book mark.  After Fun School last week I gathered up the left over  works of art left behind and recycled it into book marks I will give to some of my friends. 

From book marks

From book marks

Magnetic Book Mark Pointers:

• use old give away magnet calendars or business cards…..cut approximately 1inch squares
• test the magnets before glueing to the inside of the book mark; turn the magnet to find the strongest bond
• Use card stock or light weight card board for the base of your bookmark (you can buy cardstock by the sheet at Kinkos)

From st noodle necklaces Irish soda bread

I dye noodles with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.  Using alcohol allows the noodles to dry quickly and not stick together because the alcohol evaporates quickly.

From st noodle necklaces Irish soda bread

 We made Irish Soda Bread with molasses, strung dyed macaroni beads and made book marks as gifts.  We were lucky enough to have a big sister, a dad and a grandma join us this week.  Cyrus’s sister Milla is in the first grade and had the day off from school so she came to Fun School for some creative time with Mom, Cyrus, and me!  Ty and Luke’s dad just returned from a business trip and decided to reconnect with the family by coming to Smiling Tree with them. Amelia’s grandma was visiting from Wisconsin so she came to Fun School as she usually does when she comes to Santa Rosa. 

From st noodle necklaces Irish soda bread

 On this day at Fun School we had a group of old friends.  All these kids and moms use to come to PlayDATE and meet as a playgroup weekly.  They’ve now added Smiling Tree to their weekly activities….how fun!  The older kids in the group I’ve know since they were one year old and the little ones use to come to my classes before they were born!

From st bigi s pics 10 08

From st bigi s pics 10 08

From misc st replace photos

The kids took a little baby food jar and put gravel inside then collected moss  to create a terrarium.  I thought we might decorate the lid but the “organic” lable is kind of cute I think.

From misc st replace photos

These terrariums should stay green and growing if kept loosley covered and out of direct sun light.

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

Now that the weather is damp we’ve moved inside for lunch.  I miss our picnics on the front lawn but there’s something very sweet about having everyone inside.  We’ve been having the kids sit down at their own table ; parents help the kids get settled and if the kids don’t need anymore help the parents sit at the big table.  I’ve been serving the grown ups a cup of tea and our Wednesday parents actually had a little time in the house while I took the kids outside to play tag on the front lawn.

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

See the moms in the background enjoying their lunch and a cup of tea while I sit with the kids and read them poetry and a short story.

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

See the little round dishes?  I served the kids some Swiss chard which Ty pick from our garden.

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

Sometimes baking with whole wheat flour and honey just doesn’t quite make it.  I remember back in the early 70’s (yes, early 70’s ) I tried to substitute honey for sugar in everything I baked; honey and whole wheat flour and often (too often ) I ended up with heavy not so good baked goods.  My baking has evolved and I usually use a blend of whole wheat pastry flour,  unbleached white flour and white sugar because sometimes that’s what’s best for the dish.  Well, I must say this recipe uses 100% whole wheat flour and honey and is delicious!  These are moist, perfectly sweet cookies.  That being said, there is quite a variable when 2 and 3 year olds are doing the cooking! and everything is always delicious!!  Our recipes are designed for children to make individual servings.  This recipe makes approximately 3 cookies.  Here’s the recipe we used for our cookies this week:

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Raisin Cookies

1/2 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons honey

mix well

1 tablespoon pumpkin

1 1/2 tablespoons Flour Mixture

Flour Mixture

3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon beaten egg

1 tablespoon chopped nuts

1 tablespoon raisins

Mix

drop by spoonful (makes aprox 3 cookies)

bake 350degrees for 12 minutes

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

 As part of our cooking “class”  I demonstrated how to scoop up flour in a tablespoon then use the back of a knife (plastic) to level the flour off.  A funny and interesting thing I observed while the kids were outside playing in the rice hulls; in their play I saw two kids scooping up rice hulls and leveling off the top before dumping it back into the “pot”…..hmmmmmm

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

This is a fun and very easy project.  The kids took acorn caps and colored the inside with felt tip pens.  Then filled the caps half full with white glue…..then wait.  Part of the fun was watching the glue dry!!!  Really, as the glue dries the color from the felt tip pens leaches into the glue turning white glue into  beautiful ,shiny, almost jewel like colors.  On these damp days it takes as long as 24 hours (or more) to dry comepletly.  Once the acorn caps are dry the kids can spread them out color side down and play a matching-memory game.  For really young ones just learning colors is fun.

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

 I put a matching set of 8 acorn tops in a Altoid tin and think it would make a great travel game….what do you think?

From halloween turnip

  When you live in the country and your kids are all grown you don’t get trick-or-treaters.  That didn’t keep me from enjoying the spirit of the season.  I bought this turnip to test out thinking I might buy enough for the parents who come to Fun School.  I opted to buy miniature pumpkins for the kids to decorate instead of having knives and carving for the adults.  This was fun!  I hollowed out the turnip then carved a design on the outside.  As a bonus I cooked the turnip “meat” I scooped out and served it with dinner….it was good; kinndaI will do this again and recommend it for your adult Halloween party; less mess than pumpkins and so cute….don’t you think?

I had so much fun making clothespin dolls with the moms and kids at camp that I started making them myself. Everytime I walk past my new dolls they make me smile.  Now I have more than I can “play” with so I’m offering them for sale.  The play for me is in the making.   I think these dolls are special enough to sit on a shelf and admire but I hope a child will actually play with them.  Here’s my latest line up but I’ll gladly made a set of dolls to order with colors of your choice and “maybe” even a theme…storybook, ballet, ??? Please order early …

From st clothes pin line up

I have two different sets available (3dolls in each set):

Fun & Fancy $30                                                                                                                                                 

Fun & Simple $18

These dolls are sturdier than they look  but of course children can love their toys to death.  If you buy a set of dolls and they need “fixing” just bring them back to me and I’ll give it a loving makeover for $5 per doll

From st scarecrow

It was chilly and damp this morning so we started class inside and sang some songs, made a scarecrow and decorated some “cookies” . We spread lightly sweetened cream cheese, colored orange, on Carr’s whole wheat crackers (my husband’s new favorite snack) then decorated with raisins, prunes, nuts and mint leaves. For the scare crow we filled an old pair of jeans and shirt with crumpled newspaper then safety pinned them together. The head was a fun sewing project in its self. The kids sewed felt pieces for eyes and mouth with a little help from me. Once we finished our inside projects the sun came out and the kids went outside to play and went on a pumpkin finding hike. The kids each found a pumpkin then decorated it with glue, googley eyes, colored pom poms….so cute!

We decided to have lunch inside today. The kids sat at their little table and the parents (some of the parents) enjoyed their lunch and a cup of tea at the dining table. It was a great day!

Last week I mentioned we tried out some Brussle sprouts with mixed reviews. Well, this week it was beets!  I cooked the beets then sliced them and used tiny cookie cutters to make beet teddy bears and cats!Somewhat unlikely food to offer kids but I’m a believer in giving tasting opportunities without any pressure to actually eat the new food.

There was a recent article in the Press Democrat about childhood nutrition which gave some ideas to help get your children to try new things. One suggestion was to involve your child in the food preparation and keep trying! It was noted that you should offer a new food as many as 15 times and not attached any pressure to try.

I’ll continue to serve up new and different veggies for my Smiling Tree kids to try; maybe an artichoke next week!

From halloween turnip

 Not just any beets but Teddy bears, cats and stars……I couldn’t help myself!

From st scrarecrow brussle sprouts

Another beautiful fall day.  I know we need rain, I know the weather will change but for right now, today, it’s perfect!  It’s warm, the leaves are changing and it smells good!  I love spending these mornings with my friends at “Fun School”,  This week we made scarecrow mobils, did some car painting and collected seeds on our sticky collage.  It was a fun day and as usual I shared something to eat with my little friends.  This week I steamed some brussel sprouts and brought  another pomegranate to share.  I like to share a new food more than one time.  Last week and this week we had a pomegranate.  Some of the kids really like it others were just curious………..just like the parents,  This week I also shared brussel sprouts.  I steamed the sprouts and then finished them with garlic and olive oil then had sour cream as  a dip.  A couple kids ate the sprouts, some licked the sour cream off, nobody spit them out so that’s a good thing.

From andy gump

These two little clothespin dolls were left unfinished at camp so I decided to have some fun myself.  I added some hair and clothes and little eucalyptus caps.  I put the two little dolls next to Andy Gump just waiting to be found by one of my young friends to play with.  Andy Gump is an ashtray holder made by my husband’s great uncle probably in the 1920’s.  He is a treasured family hand-me-down with stories of my husband and his sister dancing with him when they were young and a special “friend” of my own children…..isn’t he cute!  

From andy gump

 Try this simple “recipe” for a fun Halloween project/treat.

This was a fun project, not really cooking but food related.  We did this sometime over the summer.  I was on a spider kick because there was a big garden spider spinning its web at our front gate.  We made these cracker, peanut butter, pretzel spiders and oak gall spiders another day.  

From st spider crackers

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From st wheelbarrow leaf art

Recipe for 2 Apple-Raisin Muffins

Flour Mixture …I mix this before our little bakers come to class

1 cup sifted flour (sift before measuring)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

2TBL sugar                                  Mix dry ingredients……..this is enough for several batches (6?)

Here’s the recipe we used at FUN School:

2 1/2 TBL flour mixture

1tsp oil

1 TBL milk

1/2 TBL beaten egg

Stir to moisten mixture….Do not overmix!

2 tsp chopped apple + 7 raisins + a pinch of cinnamon…….push fruit into batter without much stirring

pour into two paper-lined muffin tins.           

    Bake 400 degrees about 13minutes

I’m going to try this one again…..not my favorite recipe but great for kids…..I’ll let you know how it goes.

There’s something so sweet about our little camp I can’t stand it at times.  Every kid and every parent has a different approach and style.  Cyrus and his mom  and dad come to camp and Cyrus gets to fly through the willow tree in our hammock swing……carefree and happy

From cyrus swing

I’ve got some fun classes for “Big Kids” (5-9years) lined up for the holidays.  Our cooking classes will give the kids a chance to bake quick breads from scratch make a pumpkin pie or Apple Gallette for Thanksgiving and bake and decorate cookies.  I have a fun, chewy and delicious recipe for Gingerbread Bears that I’ll share with the kids too.  With all my cooking classes I like to have a taste and sniff game so I’ll probably play with some of the spices of the season and maybe bring in a few veggies just for fun!  Check out the class schedule to find out more about our classes planned for winter break.

Our book this week was Bumpety Bump by Pat Hutchins.  In this story a little boy gets a wheelbarrow ride from his grandpa as they dig potatoes, pick beans and tomatoes in the garden;  just like we do at camp.  I lined my wheelbarrow with a wool blanket and gave the kids a bumpy ride through the yard……..such fun!

ready for lunch and a good story

From bumpety bump

From st wheelbarrow leaf art

From st wheelbarrow leaf art

From st bumpety dolls andy gump

From st bumpety dolls andy gump

It was a little chilly last Tuesday so we started camp inside with a cooking project.  We made yeasty, cheesy pretzels. This was another one of those projects that the parents enjoyed as much as the kids.  Everybody helped measure and stir but the kids were done before the pretzels were.  So, the moms finished the pretzels and visited while the kids played with my “vintage” wooden puzzles.  Once the pretzels were in the oven everyone went outside to play and paint then we sat together on the front lawn and ate our warm pretzels with mustard (and without)…….another sweet day at camp

From Acorns pumpkins cecil

From Acorns pumpkins cecil

 I feel a little like Henny Penny.  Acorns are falling like little bombs…..really, they hit the roof and deck with such a loud sharp thump I jump everytime.  This is a particularly heavy “crop” of acorns this year.  It works that way; some years there aren’t many and other years the trees are loaded.  It seems to me that there’s some folklore that indicates that lots of acorns means a severe winter or maybe it’s just a normal cycle. (?)  What ever it is there are tons of acorns falling and the kids are gathering them up like little treasures.  Here’s a tip:   yes, kids love to gather acorns however, there are little worms that live in acorns and come out once they hit the ground or when the kids bring them in the house…………Yuck!  If your kids bring in a collection of acorns put them in a warm oven (350 degrees) for about 10minutes…..no more bugs!

We made chocolate chip cookies…..yummy, yum, yum!  Here’s Isaac and Michelle mixing ‘em up.

From st cooking cookies pizza

This photo was taken earlier this summer but I just came across it again and cropped it close.  I love it.  Adam was adding his bold stroke of yellow to our oversized “canvas”.  I love seeing the kids in their quiet moments of discovery and creativity.

From st apple pie

I found the cutest book in the library and had to plan a project around it.  The story is about a grandma cat that makes an apple pie and serves it to her family; there’s one piece left.  A family of mice find the pie and enjoy it, leaving a few crumbs which a family of ants find.  The illustrations are wonderful and in the end everyone pitches in to help make a pie to share.  This week we read the book and everyone pitched in to help make apple pie!  Yummmy, yumm, yum!!!

From st apple pie book

From st apple pie book

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Itsy Bitsy spiders……we hunted for these oak galls then transformed them into spiders!! Everyone had a chance to sample the Swiss chard and green beans too. It’s too cool for water play so we have rice hulls and bird seed to play with.

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Today Caroline had a first at camp; she ate a green bean! We picked beans and sampled them raw as well as steamed. Rosalie tasted several herbs in the garden, basil, tarragon, sage, mint, of course green beans and no tomatoes! She says she’ll like tomatoes when she grows up.

What a fun morning! We had a great tour of the fire station…..not too much but enough to engage the parents if not the kids. What is it about fire trucks and fire fighters that kids (and grown ups) are so taken with? I like the shiny red trucks but kids seem to light up when they see a fire truck. I must admit before we started our tour there was a little boy who lit up at the sight of the UPS truck so I guess it’s not the shiny red. This was a perfect field trip for little ones. They got to climb up into the trucks and engines and pretend to drive. They were able to hold the big fire hose and pull the nozzle to squirt water clear across the street. Everyone got a Graton Fire Dept red fire hat, a sticker badge and a Smoky Bear coloring book. Thank you to Jeremy and Josh for making the time to show us the fire house and all the equipment and gear.

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This week continuing with our food and “cooking” theme we made peanut butter, cracker and pretzel spiders……more messy fun and tasty too (did I say cute)!! Our neighbor horses have become a regular part of camp. I don’t see much of them throughout the week but when the kids are here they come to check it out and see what goodies we have for them. I usually have watermelon and sometimes carrots for the kids to feed the horses. Everyone’s intrigued with varying levels of braveness.

Water, gravel, Tonkas and horses……….the fun just keeps rolling on!

River loves this swing……..she can push off all by herself

I like having everybody in the kitchen. This table is just the right height for the kids.

Itsy Bitsy Spiders ready for lunch…..

Miniature Scarecrow Workshop Saturday, September 27th 10am-11:30am…..deadline to register September 3rd

$35. *5-12 year olds

Includes all materials to make a miniature scarecrow to enter in the Sonoma County Harvest Fair and I’ll take care of all the paper work and deliver and pick up the entries too!….scarecrows and ribbons will be available to pick up from Smiling Tree after October 7th

This will be a fun project even if you don’t want to enter the fair…but its so exciting to see your work at the fair and receive a ribbon. I will make the appropriate frame work to meet the fair’s specification (under 24”) and fun supplies for the kids to use to build their masterpiece including fabric, straw, mini pumpkins, thread, needles, yarn, burlap and all the patience to help the kids create their own scarecrow. Plus I’ll have a second small project for the kids to take home.

*Children must be at least 5years old by September 5th in order to enter the fair.

Please register for this class no later than September 3rd if you’d like your child’s scarecrow entered in the fair. All children will receive a participation ribbon and the first 5 places will receive a cash award as well.

One of the moms in our Tuesday group suggested we make onigiri to tie into our food month. Onigiri is essentially a rice ball. I made sushi or sticky rice and the kids with help from their grown ups made a ball then poked a whole in it then filled the opening with goodies. We had poached red snapper, green beans, carrots, tempeh, egg, avocado, peas, sesame seeds and nori (sea weed). I think it was a good food project, the kids were very clear about what they wanted in the rice balls; some plain, some with only avocado, some with everything!!! I’ll do this project again; maybe with the bigger kids cooking class and during the winter when we have our Happy Hour with a maximum of 6 kids………easier with fewer kids……

Thank you Justine for the inspiration and bringing fillings and toppings for our Origiri!

River loves seasoned seaweed

Justine sent me this quote from the book, “Fun & Fancy Sushi” pretty good words to live by even if you don’t make onigiri!

some onigiri we made

aren’t these too cute…………………………..no we didn’t make them, just a picture of a cover picture on the book “Fun & Fancy Sushi” by Seiko Ogawa & Ine Mizuno

We had a fun and busy week at camp. We peeled apples (Gravenstein’s) ate some raw and put some in the pot for a communal applesauce to serve with our lunch. We also made pinecone and peanut butter birdfeeders…..very messy! and painted cardstock birds in shades of yellow, blue, white and green….wait a minute yellow and blue make green!!! I took some before and after pictures. It’s always fun for me to see the progression of a day in pictures. These pictures were probably taken over a period of 4 hours. Setting up for camp can sometimes be a little frantic (especially since my helper Stephenie has gone back to school), but there’s that moment when everything is ready and I’m waiting for the kids and their grown ups. Check out what we did this week.

getting ready to peel apples and make applesauce
Would you let your use this??? Why of course!!

Everything’s ready for the kids………a moment of quiet before they arrive

Iris brought a carrott from home to feed the horses.

Ainsley , another budding artist
Mom’s get to have fun painting too!

peek a boo Mateo …..showing his bird picture

Emma scissor hand

everybody wants to work on their collage at the same time…

concentrating on peeling apples

now it’s applesauce!!!!

we had our applesauce with our lunch

making bird feeders

all cleaned up and ready for next time

All cleaned up and ready for next time!

I found one of these pieces of art at a local gallery the others are by local budding artists. All quite expressive and colorful!

Kidspot Art Camp…..”collaborative, expressive creation”

Smiling Tree Camp….”dramatic texture and blending of colors”

Smiling Tree….”light touch on circular pattern”

For the month of August we have a food theme at Smiling Tree camp. The first week we made cookies……from scratch! This is a great recipe because the kids get to measure out their own ingredients and stir it all up to make their very own cookies….just two. The cookie “project” was so succesful that we did it for our bigger kid’s cooking/food experience class too. It’s pretty amazing how much wiggle room there is in the recipe. The recipe calls for a teaspoon of this and a pinch of that and in the end there was probably a tablespoon of this and three teaspoons of that. All the kids were very proud of their creations and all the cookies were delicious regardless of the measurements. Scroll down in the blog to find the recipe.

all set up

and ready for the kids

this is the way we wash our hands

same recipe - the results were all different! Amazing how much wiggle room there is ..

This is the recipe we used at both the kid camp and the food/cooking experience class….try it; it’s only two cookies!

click picture to enlarge

I had a great time with the kids at my last cooking/food experience class. We probably did at least two classes woth of work but the kids loved it all. We tasted and picked fresh basil, tasted dried mango, candied ginger, etc,…..check out the slice show if you want the whole story. I’m looking forward to more classes, maybe some after school and a once a month Saturday morning.

I had a great week with the kids at Kidspot. We made collages, sand art, big pieces and little pieces. Some kids carried their sketch pads with them all week no matter if they were in the play room or not. Other kids loved the freedom to play and explore all the fun things at Kidspot. Everyone loved the collaborative giant piece we did with layers of color and the finishing touch was finger painting. On one of the days I wasn’t there the art kids had field trip to the pottery studio.

We made pots of goopy soup and beautiful little playdough cakes. Next month we’re going to experiment with real food……should be interesting! Will these same creative cooks be able to make pretzels and muffins???? Stay tuned to find out!

Sometimes we sing songs, we almost always have a story; it’s nice to gather on the lawn together.

I love this bedspread but I haven’t used it in years……until I pulled it out for our camp picnic. The first time I spread it out on the lawn one of my little friends was eating ripe berries and I must admit my heart sank when I saw little smashed berries on my white chenille spread. The spots quickly turned from red to purple and by the time camp was over there were black spots on my coveted “Goodwill find”. I took a deep breath and remembered stuff is to be used. A little bit of bleach and the spots are gone! I hung the spread on the clothesline and enjoyed watching it blow in the afternoon breeze……it’s just like new!

is this strawberry ready????

Jackson likes tetherball
Lucky Jemma; grandma and grandpa came to camp

dad and Mateo take a snack break

busy girls

my niece Stephenie was our has been our camp helper this summer

this is her rock sculpture…very cool

We worked with playdough at camp last week. Here’s the recipe………..

Simran with the rolling pin…………here’s our play dough recipe:

Playdough

1 cup white flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
“some” food coloring (2tsp)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup water

mix flour, salt and cream of tartar in a medium pot

add water, food coloring and oil

stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes…..it looks pretty yucky but it will pull together

when mixture forms a ball in the center of the pot, take it out and put it on a lightly floured surface and knead…….the dough is quite hot so let it cool before letting kids work with it

store in a plastic bag or airtight container in the fridge

This is my favorite playdough recipe; the one I used when my kids were little.

Enjoy!

kicked back relaxed moment for Hannah

Rosalie masters the apple peeler/corer…..we all shared the sweet apple slices

Emma and Amelia washing laundry and hanging it on the clothesline

playdough “cake”

goopy soup

Click on a thumbnail to view a gallery. Click on the album title above to return to the album home page.

All for Pie, Pie for All

1 Photos

9.12.08 Itsy Bitsy Spiders

8 Photos

9.9.08 Vegetable Garden Tasting

5 Photos

Graton Fire Station 2008

176 Photos

Bunny Vikram doing laundry at the washtub

Moishe the rabbit came to camp today. We made rabbit ears, fingerprint bunnies and bugs made a Father’s Day card and had lots of fun washing laundry and painting

Jessica and Jemma with her rabbit ears

Moishe goes to camp

It’s time for camp again and we’re having loads of fun. Lots of the old favorite activities and some exciting new things. As always paint is a big hit and using the eyedroppers is eye/hand coordination and pincher developement disquised as just fun and creative.

Amelia gives a new meaning to finger paints