Funny Mouth Wednesday

We finished our Mouth/Teeth project today. We are still waiting for it to dry, but it was a fun craft. We took the play dough we made yesterday and rolled out 2 snakes. It was interesting to see some of the kids have difficulty with this task. But, by the end of the morning we were all rolling out some splendid snakes. We then glued them onto the mini paper plate we painted yesterday, for the gums of our mouth. We then talked about what we read at Circle Time, about how many teeth a child has (10 on top, 10 on bottom). We picked out 10 navy beans and put them into the top "gum," then picked out 10 more and put them into the bottom "gum."

The craft had a lot of playful, fun learning going on. We counted, used our pincher grasp getting those beans into the play dough, used our fine motor skills rolling out the play dough, and problem solved when our play dough moved on the plate (if we put to much glue on).

We now just have to wait for the glue to dry and fold them over, and there you have it... a mouth, a funny mouth :) (I don't know about you, but I kinda thought they looked a little creepy wide open like that. I am hoping when they fold over it won't look so weird :) )

Here we have little hands playing with the beans and play dough. The Toddlers LOVED sticking the beans in the play dough (with supervision of course). They played with this for at least 10 minutes, an eternity to a Toddler.

Little Miss M hard at work on her teeth.

We also took out the trains today. I have had them put up for a while now, so we decided as a group that they should come out of hibernation a little early. This brought All New Life to the Block Area.

The girls couldn't wait to get their hands on the extra play dough. The play dough I used was a Cornstarch one. I liked the rubbery feel to it and thought it would be better for the pretend gums.

It was: 2 cups baking soda

1 1/2 cups water (which I tinted pink for the gums)

1 cup cornstarch

I mixed the 2 dry ingredients together first in a bowl, then I added the dry ingredients to the water a little at a time so it wasn't to lumpy. When all the dry ingredients were in, I mixed CONSTANTLY so it wouldn't stick to the bottom. You continue to mix until it boils and then all of a sudden it gets real thick. I continue mixing on low heat until it doesn't seem wet anymore. Then I put it on a plate (not wax paper, it melts) and wait for it to cool a little. Then the kids and I knead it until it is perfect. You can add some cornstarch/baking soda mix while your kneading it, if it is to sticky. I found the recipe here.

For Lunch today we had homemade Meatloaf (with a little added grated veggies) Oranges, Apples, Crackers and Milk or Water. They didn't even know there was the grated veggies in there. I put tomato sauce on my Meatloaf and it kinda masks the meatloaf itself when it is served. So, they didn't suspect there could be the dreaded vegetable in there :) Everyone ate it and asked for seconds. Though the apples and oranges where the star of the show, as always.

Here is a cute photo for today... Little Miss M took her booster off her chair and kept belting herself in. She would then yell for me, "Shelw, wook" When I would peek around the island to see her, she would smile or giggle in all her glory. To be young and entertained by such simple things. You wonder when life got so difficult :)