Spice tasting

Last winter, we were pretty house-bound during the rains. We had a young infant, but I also had a toddler crawling the walls and you can only go so long before you want to flip on the tv just to numb out.

I picked up a few books from the local library with information about “Montessori activities.” I’d like to say that I poured over the books and had daily educational projects set up for my daughter, but I’d be lying.

I did glean a few nifty project from my quick skimming, though, and one of them was this: a spice “tasting.”

Basically, I pulled out a whole bunch of spices and let my daughter sniff them. I also let her sample the ones that would taste fine without being cooked. We’d talk about each spice and she LOVED the experience! We did this a few times over the winter and even now, a year later, she requests being able to sniff the spices.

Outside of this being a fun way to spend some time, I feel like it’s stimulated one of the first building blocks to raising someone who will cook their own food – a passion for spices!

Read Full Post »

Gymboree vs. Little Gym

The rains started this week, so I decided to take my toddler to a trial class at both Gymboree and the Little Gym. Ideally, I’d like to find a great indoor activity that will help my daughter burn off some of her energy no matter what the weather is like.

After attending a class at both businesses, I have a pretty clear cut opinion: The Little Gym is a fantastic use of time and money. Gymboree is a big pass.

First, I found both businesses to be pretty pricey – the class cost is between $20 – $25, depending on whether or not you factor in the “membership fee,” and how many payments you make. The classes are about 45 minutes long for the toddler age group.

THE LITTLE GYM:

Barring the price, I have to say, I was significantly impressed by the Little Gym. If we have the funds, I would love to bring my daughter here regularly. The class was well paced with great instruction. There were brief periods of focus where the toddlers listened to the teacher and followed his lead. These mini-lessons were interspersed with free time to try the new skill, or use the equipment (double bars, balance beams, “high beams” (with guide rails on each side), etc. This method was fantastic, as it held the toddlers’ interest for a time, then gave them space to integrate what they’d just learned. The curriculum was really well founded – the children learn new ways to use their bodies, but also learn about sharing the equipment, building confidence that they can do new things, face fears… There are limitless benefits to putting a young child in this environment under gentle and skilled instruction.

The teacher, David, was pitch-perfect. He was able to engage the interest of each child, without being over-exciting or intimidating. He was very skilled at teaching different gymnastics moves and I felt that this was someone who had actually been trained to hold his position (unlike at Gymboree).

The room had great equipment and was nicely laid out with open space for plenty of children and the entire floor space was covered in clean, padded gym mats. Compared to Gymboree, the space felt light, airy and clean. My only complaint about the overall space is that there was a television in the front entryway. I’m sure during busy times of day, the lobby can be crowded and the TV helps keep energetic kids mellow while they wait for their class, but, I HATE having my children exposed to TV, especially at a business that promotes the value of physical fitness.

To me, the price point still seems high. I’d prefer it be somewhere between $15 – $17. Having said that, however, I would gladly join and try this out for a “semester” session and see if I’m as impressed at the end as I am at the beginning.

GYMBOREE:

The instructor didn’t seem that skilled. She mostly followed an index-card list of things to do and didn’t attempt to genuinely connect with her “students.” She seemed more like a gum-popping teenage babysitter who can’t wait for the parents to leave so she can turn on soap operas and ignore the kids instead of a teacher genuinely interested in her job and believing in what she’s doing.

For example, there was a girl in the class who was very shy and the “teacher” didn’t do anything to try to bolster her confidence or to integrate her into the lesson.

Also, the class was themed on “cookies” which was unimpressive to me. This is a class for two year olds – my daughter doesn’t regularly eat sugar, and I’m not that thrilled with having a class themed on chocolate chip cookies. What about something more nutritious? This loose theme was a little ridiculous, honestly. First the kids “pretend” put plastic hockey-puck type discs into an “oven,” then they used toy rollers to pretend-roll the discs, which is not the order you would go in if you were really cooking. Next, the kids were supposed to pretend they were cookies and dunking themselves in milk by jumping into an inner tube. I think the imagination aspect was little stretched here. I don’t think a single child in the room understood they were “cookies” while they were jumping.

The room was a little cramped. There was lots of equipment, but it all seemed a little piled closely and a little haphazardly. There was a lot of equipment in there that wasn’t intended for the day’s lesson, but it served as a cluttered distraction for the kids from what they were supposed to be doing. In addition, the class used these red discs and they seemed fairly dirty. They were simply returned to a bin after the class. These discs were supposed to have been “cookies,” so, naturally, a number of kids had put them in their mouths. This was REALLY unsanitary.

Finally, at the end of the class, all of the children were supposed to give a kiss to this puppet, Jimbo. These are toddlers… All it takes is one snotty kid and the whole group could get sick. Sure, there’s a sign on the door about making sure your kid isn’t sick when they attend the class, but a lot of times, people can be contagious a day or more before they actually feel sick.

I found the general sanitation conditions of the class to be poor, the instruction unskilled and the actual curriculum to be ludicrous. While the class was a success from the perspective that my daughter loved being around other little ones and really enjoyed the group activity aspect, I would have felt totally ripped off if I’d paid for this.

Read Full Post »

The Secret to Great Salt Dough

My daughter and I have been tooling with different salt dough recipes over the past few weeks. Whipping up a batch of the dough is a great post-nap activity that incorporates skills like pouring, rolling, kneading, stirring and (theoretically) measuring for my two year old. It also gives us a great forum for reviewing house rules, like not touching the hot stove or taking things off the kitchen counter.

The first batch we made was hopelessly chunky, the second batch was loopy with too much oil, the third was too sticky, etc. I’ve finally happened across a great salt dough reference site and the come up with the best, most workable salt dough recipe to date. There are two important secrets to this recipe:

A) The recipe uses a mixture of both regular salt AND kosher salt. This helps the dough to be a little gritty, which helps to prevent it gooping up the hands too much. For the recipe below, which is probably the smallest batch a person would normally make, the total amount of salt is roughly 1/2 cup. No matter the total quantity of salt used (if the batch is larger), the ratio of salt should be 3/4 regular table salk, 1/4 kosher.

B) The use of Pam cooking spray (or any non-stick cooking spray). The cooking spray is the real secret ingredient to making the salt dough workable.

– 1/2 cup of table and kosher salt, roughly divided into 3/4 table salt, 1/4 kosher

– 1 cup of flour

– 1/4 to 1/3 cup of boiled water

– 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

– a three-second spritz of nonstick cooking spray (this is the SECRET WEAPON)

1. Boil the water.
2. If you’re going to use food coloring, add it to the water.
3. Put the salt into a bowl
4. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until the salt is as best dissolved as possible (it won’t dissolve that much)
5. Add about 1/2 the flour and stir until the mixture is crumbly
6. Add vegetable oil, stir some more
7. Add the last of the flour and stir
8. From here, play with adding a small amount of water (2 tablespoons at a time) and oil (a 1/4 teaspoon at a time) until the mixture seems smooth
9. If you go overboard on the water or oil, add salt and flour to even out. The ratio of salt to flour should remain 1:2
10. Once the dough is fairly smooth, knead by hand. The dough will be sticky at this point.
11. Roll dough into a ball, spray cooking spray on it and re-knead.

From here, form the dough into the desired shape(s). Cook at 350 for 45 – 60 minutes. Cooking time and temperature may vary depending on thickness of final shape.

Read Full Post »