Feeding A to Z - Trial # 1

I finally summed up the courage to put into action the menu I've been penning down for over a week. I mean, I've been meticulously decorticating what I should serve my kiddos for lunch, the portion size and how to appeal their little palate. Here, I present to you my first attempt at seizing their likings. It will be lots of trials and errors because let's face it; kids change on a daily basis. Some days they'll like peas, some days they won't (ok...peas are ALWAYS yucky!)  LOL

For my first "sit down" meal, I chose an entree consisting of fish. Fish? What the...? Really? Yes. My kids for some reason like fish. They don't like mac n' cheese, spaghetti and meatballs or chicken nuggets but they like fish. Go figure. Not that it's a bad thing. No complaints on that one. :)

Something Fishy, Something Crunchy and

and Something "Berry" Good

Above is a picture of Adrian's plate before he "attacked it" (he's a hungry boy upon his return from German school). He had a first course of cherry tomato (his favorite vegetable), tossed the salad overboard (I insist on putting it on his plate but it really is just a garnish right now) then he moved on to the dessert (the blueberries and raspberries), had a few bites of couscous and carrots and ended with the salmon making sure to go around "the green". All in all, there were some leftovers but he tried everything (except the romaine) and ate very well. He requested more berries. I tried to make the plate as colorful as possible and make the portion within the norms for a 4 year old. One day, maybe I'll explain how I calculate this. Then again, maybe one day I'll put his veggies in the big hollow part instead of the meat! LOL Just re-learning this one...

Zahavah was served the same dish with a smaller portion. She quickly munched on the romaine. She only eats the "crunchy parts". The rest is quickly rejected. She offered almost all her blueberries and her lonesome tomato to her brother...and then begged for his share of couscous in exchange. She ate all her fish and then asked me for my couscous. :) What about the carrots, you ask? Well, she ate most of them.

So what did we really have for lunch? Was it time consuming? Not at all. The longest part was the pre-heating of the oven and the baking. The actual hands-on time was practically as fast as sneezing.

Ingredients

-1 piece of (preferably fresh wild) salmon

-freshly ground pepper

-sea salt

-herbes de provence (found in the spice section of any grocery store)

-Near East Herbed Chicken Couscous

(plain is great too)

-Del Monte Sliced Carrots with Pull Top

(you can of course make your own but my kids prefer the canned ones...go figure)

-Romaine Lettuce

-Cherry Tomatoes

-Blueberries & Raspberries

Directions

Sprinkle fish with salt, pepper and herbes de provence. Bake for about 18 minutes or until fish is flaky. Oven should have been pre-heated at 200F previously.

Couscous instructions are on the package but all you really do is boil water, empty couscous, cover and wait 5 minutes. Yep. Easy pasta!

Serve with one big glass of fat-free milk!

Pets Week for Preschoolers

While we aren't lucky enough to own a pet, we are graced almost daily by the visit of Miss Nabburg, the neighbor's cat, who happens to be very friendly (aka comes in the house for "routine inspections" and petting sessions). Both Adrian and Zahavah love animals and I thought "Pet Week" would allow Adrian to learn a bit more about the most common pets and yet feel comfortable within the topic. Here are some of the activities we've accomplished this week.

Outdoor Play - "Digging" for bones in the yard

While we didn't really dig like a dog would to find these bones, I sure thought about planning it that way. "What if I put the homemade felt bones in a small Ziploc bag and hid them in the sand? " But no, I stayed low key...As it turns out, the brown bones were not that easy to find in the grass. Leaves have started falling here and as such, they blended in! So I just asked Adrian to look for the 8 bones in the yard. He loves this type of outdoor activity. I made my bones following the Booda Bones size of bones and made two of each so they could be used for matching and sizing from largest to smallest afterwards.

Math - Matching & Sizing Up

Pictured are the felt bones after Adrian matched them up and then "sized them up" from largest to smallest.

Fine Motor - Cutting fish strips

Using scissors can be challenging for a child. Adrian is working real hard at this lately and loves his improvements in making larger cuts, more precise cuts and faster cuts (I'm loving it too!). These scissors are from Melissa & Doug and are great. I love that they do not cut clothes or fingers because honestly, this week, we'd be missing some some skin I'm afraid. I printed these strips (featuring real fish from Utah lakes) thinking we'd work on one daily and that is what we've been doing. Each day brings us improvements in the scissor holding department. Want your own fish strips? Visit Fish in Utah for your copy.

Cat Breed Matching & Memory Game

A very nice (I think!) cat breed game. Printed from VisualDictionaryOnline on cardstock (print 2 copies), then cut to be in the same size. First Adrian matched the cat breeds together and then we played a memory game with these. Adrian loved finding a pair.

Math - Counting Goldfish

This was one of the quickest activities for Adrian. He loves math AND goldfish so he filled the sheet as quick as possible and then proceeded to eat ALL the counters! :)

Fishing Game

This little fishing game took a while to make and I am glad to say it was worth it. Adrian loved fishing with the magnetic wand.  He counted the fish as he went. If you wish to make your own felt fishes, here is what I used: brightly colored felt, sequins for the scales, thread, goggly eyes, a metal washer and polyester stuffing. To complete the game, use a magnetic wand from a magnetic puzzle if you have one. I cannot remember where I found the pattern but drawing a fish is pretty basic anyway. The idea for the game came from Counting Coconuts by the way.

Math - Counting whiskers

A quick activity (a filler, really) involving cats and math. Found at Kidssoup in their free pages to use.

Art & Fine Motor - Adding scales to a fish

I spent an evening cutting little round construction paper circles for this craft. I really wanted to use hole  punched paper (lazy, you say?) but it would have been too small for Adrian to pick up one by one. At the size of a dime or so, these were just right for a pick up challenge yet not frustrating. We used liquid glue and a paintbrush too as glue sticks are a bit too sticky yet not enough sometimes for Adrian. It worked wonderfully and he loved this craft. Get your own fish at Free Coloring Sheets.

Math - Pattern Sequence of pets with stampers

What child doesn't love stamps? Using Melissa & Doug's Pet Stampers, I proceeded to start a sequence of pattern which Adrian had to complete with the right pet AND ink color. He would have done a lot more than 4 sequences for sure. I wish the grid had more spaces as I felt it may be tough to really determine what came next for Adrian but a smaller grid would have meant no room for the stamps...

As pet week goes on, expect at least another post on this wonderful subject.

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Today, I'm happily linking up to

Living Montessori Now, B-Inspired Mama, I can Teach my Child, No Time for Flashcards, and 123 Homeschool 4 Me.