Everyday the children enjoy helping to make their own snack. Â Which usually consists of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Preparing snack offers children the chance to develop their fine motor skills through chopping and slicing, make choices, gain an awareness of healthy eating and be able to express their likes and dislikes.
Today some of the children found some blueberries in the fridge and asked if they could make something else with them? We looked at different recipes and found one for blueberry muffins! We decided that this would be fun to try.
First we talked about what ingredients we would need.
Then we got to work making our yummy muffins. We followed the recipe, adding flour. One child commented â I bake lots with granny, I know that is flourâ Next thing to do was mix the oil into the mixture, followed by some soya milk and of course we had to add the most important ingredient, some blueberries. The mixture needed a lot of mixing and our arms got quite tired but we took it in turns so everyone could get a rest!
Next we used our mathematical skills to divide the mixture up between our paper cake cases before taking them to the oven. The hardest part was waiting until they came out because we could smell the delicious baking scent. Finally, they were ready and they looked amazing!
Category Archives: Snack
Our own Rhubarb Scones
Today we have picked our own rhubarb from the garden to use in our scones . We could easily spot the rhubarb in the garden because it has very big green leaves. Â When the rhubarb is ready to use we discovered that you can easily pull it out the ground.
We then prepared the rhubarb . The children listened to some safety rules before using knives to cut it into smaller pieces. We then washed it clean and added a little sugar before stewing it in the microwave. Donât touch the bowl now as it is very hot !
We put the rhubarb aside to cool. âSmells yummyâ. Â As the children are now very good at making scones they were able to prepare the scone mix themselves ready to add the rhubarb. We cut out the scones using our circular cutter (sometimes itâs flower shaped) today . Itâs a bit sticky so we knew that the mixture need some more flour.
The scones were now ready for the oven.
The children have really enjoyed watching the rhubarb grow in the garden then being able to pick this themselves and use in our scone recipe. This is a great way to see where and how foods get from the garden to our table. We are looking forward to discovering some more recipes using our home grown fruits.
Fun at Forest School
We are always so excited when it’s a Forest School day! We have been observing the changes in the Forest over the last few sessions. As it has been sunny and dry over the last week, it was safe enough for us to explore the river. We collected our nets and set off!
The water was so clear we could see right to the bottom. Unfortunately we didnât see or catch any fish! We used a stick to measure the depth of the water and then held it against our boots so that we could see where it was safe to stand.
We found our very own stoney beach where we could look for stones and throw them in the water. Â As a group, we conducted a risk assessment and discussed safety rules we should follow when throwing our stones. Â We had to be careful to look around us and stay a safe distance from each other before we threw our stones into the water. We had so much fun investigating who could throw their stone the furthest and make the biggest SPLASH! We found lots of different sizes and shapes of stone. We were able to identify which were bigger, smaller, heavier and flatter. Â We found one that looked like a pizza and put two together to make a duck!
Of course we have to have snack when weâre at Forest School. Â We enjoyed apple, hot chocolate to warm us up and a biscuit (to give us energy!)
There was just time for us to make a few trips up our favourite hill! It was hard work climbing to the top! We were able to feel our hearts beating really fast! Our favourite part was pulling Angela back down the hill with us. She was going really fast!
We canât wait to see what we can discover and explore next week!
Pancake đ„ Day
Today is pancake day and the children were very excited to make pancakes for snack. We had a look at our recipe and gathered together our ingredients. The children had a look at the numbers on the scales and jug to make sure we measured the correct quantities. Â We then added everything together and used the whisk to blend it into a smooth, runny consistency ready for cooking.
We had some fun tossing our pancakes in the air and catching them in our pan.  This helped develop their hand and eye coordination skills and also  their balance.  We also enjoyed our Bookbug session with stories and a few renditions of âpop a little pancake into the panâ.
At snack time the children chose what they would like to have on their pancakes. We had bananas, strawberries, raspberries or lemon juice. Â âThis was a great snackâ. There was lots off discussion amongst the children about who had pancakes for breakfast today . This social time helps the children with language and taking turns during the conversation. âHope my mummy makes pancakes tonight â .
The children asked if they could make more pancakes in the afternoon. It had been such a long time since we had cooked pancakes on the fire we asked Val and Fiona if they would light the fire. It was a big yes so we spent the afternoon in the sun, around the fire pit having… MORE PANCAKES!
The children watched as the pancakes turned from a liquid into a solid and commented on the bubbles!
‘We can see bubbles! That means they’re ready to turn!’
Kung Hey Fat Choi
Today at Cart Mil we have been celebrating Lunar New Year 2022 by participating in various activities both indoors and outdoors! 2022 is the year of the tiger. We discussed the features of a tiger then decided to look for stripes while out for a walk. Look at all the stripes we foundâŠ.
We also enjoyed having a race through the woods and a play in the spider park on the way back to nursery.
For snack today we sampled different foods that might be eaten during Lunar New Year celebrations.
We enjoyed tasting noodles, rice and lychees!
In the Home room we decided to make our own fortune cookies which were delicious!
We decided to make our playdough the same colours as a tiger and had lots of fun creating our own Lunar New Year tigers!
In the Discovery room we used our interactive board to research the history of Lunar New Year.
We used our creativity and imagination in the Studio today to make celebration ribbons and streamers. We then used them to recreate our own Lunar New Year celebration dance.
We have had so much fun celebrating and learning the history of Lunar New Year.
Kung Hey Fat Choi!
Yummy Blueberry Muffins
This week the toddlers have been extremely busy. After enjoying home grown vegetables for snack this week, they decided to make some yummy blueberry muffins to enjoy for snack.
We all washed our hands and found a recipe book to let us know what ingredients we needed.
This is what we needed:
Plain Flour
Caster Sugar
Baking Powder
Salt
Melted Butter
Buttermilk
Lemon Rind
2 Eggs
Blueberries
We put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon rind and salt and gave it a stir.
Now we had to mix the wet ingredients, buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.
And gave it a good stir.
We carefully added the wet ingredients to the flour mix and gave it a good mix. It became very gloopy!
Pop in some blueberries.
The children took great care filling the muffin cases before putting them in the oven to cook.
The muffins looked delicious when they were cooked. The children had to wait till they had cooled before enjoying them for snack.
Some of the children wanted to taste some of the blueberries…. even the lemon!
What will we make next time?
From earth to table snack today!!!đ„đ„đ„
The toddlers have been growing vegetables in our garden. We have been watering  them regularly and today we were able to harvest them! We enjoyed some delicious toddler grown snacks including carrots and  spring onion,  with a potato to take home for later.
We firstly picked our carrots, spring onions and potatoes.
Then we washed the soil off.
Finally after working so hard today, we enjoyed tasting our Cart Mill grown vegetables at snack time.
The children have been learning where our food comes from and it was nice to be able to learn and share together. đ
Flapjack fun!
Today the children in the toddlers had so much fun making yummy, sticky flapjacks! We did lots of measuring, weighing, melting, greasing and mixing to make the perfect consistency. This morning it turned out a little bit dry, so we put our thinking caps on… how do we make it stickier? The answer of course, was more sticky syrup!! We added some extra tablespoons of syrup to see if it would change the texture as it  was âtoo crumblyâ and âcrunchyâthe first time, and it turned out just right. Well done guys! See if you can spot the difference.
We canât wait to see what the children decide to make next from their book of baking ideas. Stay tuned!!
Fruit skewers anyone…..
In the toddlers today we decided to make fruit skewers today. We were able to focus on colours, patterns, taste, numeracy as well as developing our fine motor skills.
Firstly, we washed our fruit
We picked from a selection of strawberries, apples, grapes and bananas
We used our fingers to carefully thread the fruit onto our skewers creating patterns
It can be quite tricky but we all persevered
The fruit is very tasty
Happy children enjoying their snack đ
Merry Christmas to all
There were some very excited children in the centre today. As it was cold and frosty we thought it would be a good idea to light the fire and sing some Christmas songs around it, while drinking delicious hot chocolate.
We hope all the Cart Mill family have a wonderful and safe festive period.
Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year from us all.
Thank you to all for the most generous gifts you have handed in for the staff, it is very much appreciated.
