Last week we had some interrupted learning time so I opted to continue on with the Letter D this week. We also had some interrupted learning time this week so all in all we got about 4-5 days of D in over two weeks! On Monday we were in Mbabane to get our TRP’s taken care of and then on Thursday we went on some home visits with childcare staff. In addition to D activities we also reviewed some of our letters from previous weeks. Here are some of the D activities we completed this week.
We painted dots on the letter D.
This isn’t letter D, but Mikayla has gotten to wear she will choose school activities to play with instead of her toys. Here she is playing with a patterning game at the desk while I was making dinner. I thought she was playing with toys until I turned around!
I took our disc golf discs and scattered them around the floor. Then I placed letter cards inside. She dropped the ball onto the disc and identified the letter. As she gets bigger she can identify things that start with this letter. We had an extra disc with no letter so that was the dancing disc. Anytime her ball landed on that disc we both had to start dancing! And when she got bored with this game we went outside and through them around the yard.
We found this book in town on Monday. It teachers her basic line movements. She loves writing in it and then erasing it off!
For our final D project we made donuts. I found a great recipe that Mikayla could help me with all the way through. When it came time to rolling out the dough she grabbed her IKEA rolling pin and went to town. Then she took cookie cutters and cut out her own donuts. Here she is enjoying them fresh from the oven.
Next week we will move onto the Letter E – elephants, eggs and Elmo. I know my friend Catherine is cringing right now, but rest assured we will throw in Grover when it come to the Letter G!
Donut Recipe:
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt – just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments – if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don’t have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes – start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Tags: Mikayla, Toddler School