School fun : )

As I've been homeschooling these girls, I've tried to remember that they are 3 and 4 years old. They need to do some fun, interactive things. I've never taught pre-K, so I'm kind of used to doing school with older kids. These girls have done great with paying attention and completing little sheets I've given them, but they need to be able to get up and move around! With that in mind, I've done some things with them the past two weeks that we've all enjoyed. Last week our theme was the jungle, so we went on a "safari" outside (picture with the girls in their "cars" and hats). We used our imaginations to see some jungle animals outside and the girls haven't stopped asking if we could go on another safari. We also did some finger painting yesterday, which the girls enjoyed. This week we're studying the letter C, so I thought...hey...we need to do cookies. What better fun than to make them ourselves!? I knew that I could be asking for a big mess on my hands, but it's pre-K...I've gotta loosen up! : ) Off I was on the hunt for a kid-friendly recipe on the internet. I looked up "cookie recipes for preschoolers" and I found several, but one in particular caught my eye. It was a recipe for honey shortbread cookies. The thing I liked about the whole layout of the recipe was that it gave some great ideas for what you could do with the kids as you were making the cookies. The cookies were also sugar/egg free...so no worries about too much sugar (or chocolate...as I originally thought I would do choc. chip cookies) or egg issues. As we did each ingredient, I let the girls taste, smell, and feel each of them and tell their thoughts. We talked about where each ingredient came from. I let the girls pour the ingredients in and then they mixed it up with their hands. We had to let the dough chill for an hour and then we rolled it out and cut out some shapes. After that we baked them up and tasted them. They were pretty tasty...Sophie and Isaac loved them...especially Sophie! I wanted to pass on this recipe so you can all enjoy it!

Honey Shortbread Cookie Recipe

by Renee Carver

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• sprinkle of salt
• 1/2 cup salted butter (left out for 1 hour to soften to room temperature)
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions: Put flour in mixing bowl. Sprinkle and mix a little salt into the bowl. Place butter in the bowl. Squeeze the ingredients together, mixing it with your fingers until the mix is the texture of cornmeal. Dribble in a bit of honey at a time and keep squeezing and kneading the mix in the bowl until it is thoroughly mixed into one big lump (try not to overwork the dough). Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refridgerator for at least an hour to chill. Dough will be crumbly and stiff wihen it comes out of the fridge. Parents should squeeze and knead it gently until it can be rolled out 1/4 in thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes and transfer cookies to cookie sheet that has been lightly floured or covered with parchment or wax paper (I just sprayed some cooking spray on our pan and it worked fine). Bake cookies at 350 for 12 minutes. Let them cool for 5-10 min. on a cookie sheet before transferring them to a cookie rack to cool completely (I just transferred them to a plate).

(I shortened the instructions, but the ones on the website give more details on interaction with the kids...sorry...I don't have the url, but if you look up the recipe name, I'm sure it'll pop up)
Hope you enjoy this recipe!
God bless!