Waldorf Bread Recipe

This is the recipe we used for our weekly bread day with my little ones!

This recipe makes a BIG batch.  Sometimes we'd make the whole thing and share bread with people we loved...and other times I'd cut the recipe in half.

Mix together:
1/2 C. warm water (bath temp)
1/2 tsp honey
1 packet of yeast

Stir together and let proof and get bubbly while you mix together the following items:

1/2 tsp salt
3 c. flour (whatever blend you want--we did 2c. bread and 1 whole wheat)
1 1/2 C. water
1/4 c. honey
3 T melted butter (or some type of oil)

Mix well. 
Add in the proofed yeast.

Turn out on floured cutting board/table and knead.  Get those little hands helping you! 

Sing: (as you knead)
The Baker Song
Pat-a-Cake

Once kneaded well, decide how you will form your bread.  Either make one large object, or give each child a small ball to make into their own object.  Add items, if desired.  Crasins, chopped nuts, grated (by the child!!!) nuts, etc.  You can use the items to make the face on a cat or the petals on a flower, or the teeth on a dragon....get creative!

Put finished objects on baking tray lined with parchment.  Place in 350 degree oven. Timing will vary, depending how thick you made the items.  Keep an eye on the bread and have the children help you peek at it often.  Observe with all your senses.  How is it smelling?  How is it looking?  Has it changed at all? 

Baked bread freezes well!!!! 

@MamaSchool....the daily things.

At MamaSchool we look for the learning in the little things...the daily things that happen over and over again, but leave openings for little hands and hearts and minds to grow.

Lunch is one of these times.  Learning to set the table properly.  Taking time to add beauty through the dishes and linens we use.  Handling breakable dishes carefully and learning what to do when one of them accidentally breaks.  Learning to pour tea independently.  Using a knife to spread peanut butter and jam (fine motor!).  These are all niches for learning to occur.  Sure, it might take a little longer to teach a small person to carry our good pottery plates instead of tossing out some plastic ones.  Of course I could have made that sandwich WAY quicker and FAR less messy.  But these are the moments in our day that MamaSchool is most beautiful....when Mama takes a breath and steps back and lets him do things himself...or takes a breath and steps up to show him one more time how to do it carefully and correctly and with his very best effort.  

And no, lunch doesn't always happen this way.  Sometimes I do make his food and it is on plastic...and that is life and that is okay....But we try hard to slow our days enough that being 4, and all the lovliness that involves, can unfold....as he learns to gracefully and kindly and lovingly navigate this world around him.  And me?  I am still learning those lessons too.  So it's MamaSchool for us both!  

A boy and his knives....toddler play with playdough and knives.

 Beck LOVES working with knives these days.  He knows they are something so "grown up" so of course he wants to learn how to use them!  Playdough is a great time for cutting practice.  He gets a chunk of playdough and a selection of knives.  Spreaders, plastic knives, veggie cutters, and butter knives were selected this particular time.  Pizza cutters are also fun.  Playdough and safe knives allow opportunities for him to master the mechanics of cutting and also develop the wrist strength and control and grasping strength to cut effectively.  

I also let him cut fruit and veggies with a paring knife when I am sitting with him at the table.  We start with hand-over-hand and then when he is ready I let him cut on his own, well supervised.

Herb clipping

 I needed some finely chopped rosemary for some rosemary lemon bread we were making for Monday Bread Day.  We have a rosemary bush outside, so we gathered some sprigs, then I put the littles at the table to cut up the pieces.  They really enjoyed this!  Great fine motor, practical life, and finger-strength--in a different way than cutting paper, as the bulky rosemary requires that you hold/use the scissors a bit differently.  Beck asked a few other times during the week to cut rosemary.  One of the times I gave him some fresh oregano to cut, and he loved that, too!  Of course if you don't grow rosemary or other herbs (you TOTALLY should....rosemary is the easiest ever) then you can buy them at the grocery store in the produce section.  Sidenote--it makes your kitchen and your children smell lovely! A great sensory activity, as well!

Older children could actually use a cutting board and paring knife to do this, as well.  Quinn would be ready for that at this point, but she wanted to use the scissors like her brother. :)

And a older infant/young toddler who isn't ready for scissors?  Show them how to pull off the leaves with their hands....if they happen to eat some...it will be good for them!  

A snack she can do herself.

Monday is popcorn for snack.  Q is so very proud to handle it all herself.  She scoops 2 scoops of popcorn (just regular old popcorn) into a brown paper sack, folds down the top and puts it into the microwave on the "popcorn" setting.  She knows to be careful when removing it cause it's gonna be hot!  She pours it into three bowls for me and Beck and her, and she cleans up after herself!  It's a great task that requires several steps for her to keep track of, fine motor coordination in the careful scooping and "measurement," and it's highly self-motivating because the girl loves to eat the popcorn!
 

 

Michaelmas Dragon Bread

Monday is bread-baking day at our house.  It's also Uncle Bob's hot cereal day, kitchen cleaning day and popcorn for snack day, if you'd like to know!

In honor of Michaelmas this upcoming Sunday, we baked dragon bread, in what's become an annual tradition for us!

While we baked we learned a new song (I found the rhyme online (oops, can't remember where) and then put a tune to it. 

I decided that we needed a savory dragon to go with our roasted chicken and broccoli dinner, so I searched the internet.  I combined a few recipes and altered a few things to fit our needs (which, sidenote, made me really proud that I am becoming enough of a bread baker to have an opinion on how I like bread made!). 

Here's what we did:
3 c. flour
1 c. shredded cheese (I used a mix of colby-jack, mozzerella and parmesan)
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg yeast (2 3/4 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 c. warm milk
1 egg at room temp
dill
garlic salt
extra parmesan for top

*Add sugar and yeast to warm milk, stir and let proof for 10 minutes

*Meanwhile, sift flour, add salt and cheese--stir.

*Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and knead until soft dough forms (I had to add more water)

*Form into large ball, place in clean greased bowl and cover with a tea towel.  Let rise 1 hour or until doubled.

*Punch down, place on a greased cookie sheet and form dragon.  Decorate as desired.  We also sprinkled the top of the dragon with dry dill, a bit of garlic salt and some shredded parmesan.

Bake at 375 for 20 or so minutes until dragon is golden brown. 

It turned out DE-LISH!

Here are some more pics from our day:

While Q and I baked, Little Man played with dry oats and cooking utensils.  Here's what the table looks like post-baking.

I keep "play oats" in a can.  They are fine for him to eat while he plays (and he does), but I don't bake or anything with them.  And when he finishes playing I pour the excess back in for next time.

Look at this girl doing dishes.  Mmmmm.

And him vacuuming...all the oats he threw on the floor.

 

 

There, that's better!  Q even wiped the table and chairs with some warm vanilla water to clean all the stickiness and add a nice smell to our kitchen.  Sorry, Alie, not even any crumbs on the floor for you.

Here's our dragon before baking.  I've learned to take a picture of bread creations because ya never know what will happen in the oven and we might pull out a blob!
We used dried veggies (which my kids refuse to eat) to decorate our dragon and almonds for the teeth and claws. 

Dried green bean eyes and dried beet chip scales.

He came out looking great!

Q got the honor of slaying the dragon.

Which she enjoyed immensely. 

And mmmmm that was a yummy dragon!

Toddler Fine Motor--Banana Peeling

Cookie Shop Pretend Play Area

I usually use our little kitchen area to set the stage for some type of dramatic play area.  We had a great time with the farmer's market and were ready for something new and seasonal. 

We've been doing lots of baking to get ready for the holidays, so I thought a cookie shop would be just the thing! 

To start with, I always create my dramatic play areas with the general rule that I am only going to use things we already have.  This keeps them economical, of course, encourages me to be creative, and also gets good use out of things we already have.  I definitely scour our cupboards, drawers, closets when I am setting up a play area.  I usually decide on what I'll do and then spend a couple of weeks just thinking about it--pulling things I know I'll want to use when I come across them (which kinda leads to a bit of messiness as all the new stuff piles up on the counter....Matt doesn't love this stage of the process). 


I usually use the chalkboard somehow in each area.  It's a great way to encourage literacy and pre-reading skills. 

And we have this great pop up book that I couldn't resist adding to the top of the shelf.  I know we have other cookie books (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, etc.) around, so as I come across them I'll add them to the top shelf. 

I used scrap fabric and some washi paper a sweet friend brought us from Japan to make this banner.  It isn't anything fancy--I tore the fabric in strips and then cut the bottom.  I sewed the pieces onto a length of twine.  The whole thing could be done with paper, gluesticks, etc.  No sewing machine would be necessary....

I raided my linens (thanks, Aunt Karen!) for items to use.  I put a white doily on the top.

A mixing bowl is filled with batting (which I took out of a baby carseat headrest we no longer need!) and a whisk.  This is the batter.  Q loves stirring it!  We keep it on a higher shelf so Beck doesn't eat it.  Under that is a wire rack that she places the cookies on to put them in the "oven." 

I made these cookies from 2 pieces of felt and cookie cutters.  I sewed the felt pieces together around the outside, traced the cookie cutters, used a exacto knife and a small pair of scissors to cut them out.  Then I sewed around the opening and the edge of the "cookies" to hold everything together.  I ran a lighter around the edge of the cookies to seal the felt from pulling and looking yucky.  This could project could also be done using a hot glue gun or fabric glue--no sewing machine necessary. 

 

I made "icing" by putting each cookie on top of a piece of colored felt, tracing it, and then cutting a little smaller than the line.  I lighter-sealed the edges.  I cut little pieces of felt and hot-glued them for sprinkles. 

I made a little rack for the icing and the cookie cutters out of an Amazon box we had sitting around.  I really like having a spot for every component in the play area.  If items are displayed nicely they are more likely to be used AND more likely to be restored properly.  Also notice I only included 3 cookie cutters.  Remember that less is more.  I used two embroidered linens to line the bottoms of these little cardboard shelves. Cloth napkins, fabric, scrapbook paper would have also worked!

I put out a little spatula, some little measuring spoons and a small metal spatula to use as utensils (hanging from bottom shelf). 

I used felt and hot glue to make some felt "paper bags" (google searched for tutorial).  These are for "to-go" orders!  I also had a little Christmas box that was cookie-sized that I included.  The top compartment of this metal basket holds plates and napkins for "eat here" orders. 

I consolidated several jars of sprinkles to fill one big one.  I hot-glued the lid on so the kids can pretend with it and hopefully not decorate the house with sprinkles!  Cut paper would also work...or marbles, or any number of small colored items.  I also put out a basket of nuts. 

I changed the skirt on the bottom of our kitchen.  I used some of those clips that go onto curtain rods and a dresser scarf linen.  Under the knobs is the "oven" (just one of the shelves we've designated as oven) and also storage for other items--a small tea set and some milk.

On the end hangs potholders and a basket.  I also added a little apron, but after I took the photo.  We have a kid-sized rolling pin around, too, that I am on the lookout for, which will be added.  And a little kitchen timer that's around here somewhere.  :)

This little milk jug has cut-up pieces of Daddy's old tshirt in it.  They can be pulled out and stuffed in the mug to make "milk."  Cotton balls, white beans, white buttons,  etc. would be fun to put in and actually provide pouring practice.  We're doing the fabric since Beck would eat buttons or cotton balls right now. 

I also included a gingerbread pan.  It would be fun to trace the pattern onto felt and cut out the face parts to let the kids decorate him.  Next year!

And the "cash register."  I have had the hardest time finding a cash register I like.  The plasticy, huge, noise-making ones are not for me. I've never found a good, simple wooden one I like.  So we improvise with fancy boxes and jewelery boxes.  I dug this one out of the cupboard and put some pesos and other foreign bills we had around the house in it for a fun change. 

I put cookie displays on our little corner rack.  The top shelf always holds our cloth napkins for mealtimes, and then I use the bottom two for our play area. 

I used metal candlesticks and then some cardboard rounds that are for holding cakes.  I had them in my cupboard and thought they were perfect!  They have a doily printed on them.  I used sticky tack to adhere the candlestick to the cardboard. I had two little doilies that were just perfect to put under the pedestals.  Don't look at the dust on the shelf, okay?  I spent my time crafting and not cleaning, obviously.  :)

Here are the chocolate chip cookies on display.  I made them with Matt's old tshirt--sewed two circles together, left a gap for turning, turned right side out, stuffed with stuffing (from said headrest) and sewed them closed.  I used felt pieces and the hot glue gun for the chocolate chips.  Of course this could be done with felt, cardboard, paper, etc. 

Above are the "sugar cookies" with the icing stuck on.  The felt icing sticks to the felt cookie just perfectly!

You could even have a little tray of sprinkles, etc, cut from felt and let the kids decorate themselves!  I glued ours on to make them little-brother proof.  :)

So there you have it!  A fun cookie-play area that my kids are already enjoying!  Now go scour your cupboards and set up some type of fun pretend play area for your kids!