diy coconut milk and chia seed pudding {with kids}

This super easy and surprisingly tasty treat was one of our recipes last year. We whipped up our pudding to go along with our week of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The children always love a recipe!

 Four our recipe we mostly followed this one. Each kiddo measured and poured 1/3 cup of coconut milk into our mixing bowl (I found this collapsible silicone bowl at Daiso. It is awesome), 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, and a big old squirt of honey. They each took turns stirring the mixture up and then used the tablespoon to scoop a portion into a 4 oz jelly jar that they could take home once the pudding set.

Two of the kiddos slurped it all up before we could get the lids on. I suppose they liked it! I was pleasantly surprised over the flavor and texture. I expected it would be more tapioca-like but it wasn't. I think that may be because our ration was more milk heavy than seed heavy. Either way, this is a super easy recipe for kiddos to make and is a great pairing with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

making smoothies in the classroom

One of our activities for our week of The Very Hungry Caterpillar was to make fruit smoothies. The children were very excited at the idea and talked a lot about when we were going to do it.

On smoothie day, each kiddo brought a piece/type of fruit to class. I notified parents ahead of time and asked them to not bring bananas as I worried that each kiddo would bring a banana, I would supply those.  I also brought along a few other types of fruit that I thought would be fun to explore. We did not stick with the fruit from the book as I wanted the children to decide which fruit they brought to class. We had strawberries, blackberries, apples, peaches, plums, oranges, apricots, and kiwis. A cornucopia! Thank goodness we have no fruit allergies in this class!  The children were very excited to get started as they were going to cut their own fruit with real  (butter) knives! Each piece of fruit was introduced and we talked about the visual characteristics. I talk a lot about us being detectives of the world and how we use our five senses to seek out clues. We used our eyes to give us visual clues to determine what kind of fruit we had. We see an orange is round and of course orange. We then use our nose to smell the fruit before we cut it, we use our hands to touch and then we use our mouth to taste, etc. Some of the fruit was new to the children and we would guess what color the inside was and write down our predictions. There was a lot of excitement, vocabulary, community, etc.

I found this really awesome blender at Target for $15. It makes a 16oz drink and you can drink from the base if ya like. It is not a very loud blender but still loud enough to unsettle my sound sensitive student so before using it we talked about the sound a blender makes and she took some time to decide if she wanted to be in the kitchen with ears covered our in the reasing corner with pillows piled over her, etc. We put in our fruit with a few ice cubes, a smidge of pineapple juice to help get things going and the children took turns blending away. It was thrilling! When the smoothie was deemed finished, the children took turns pouring their drink into their own cups.  Making a smaller smoothie is crucial as all that fruit in those little bellies...well...you know.

Here is this photo again showing the scale of our blender. I love it and the children were so serious when they were blending their smoothies. It was a delicious smoothie and made more than enough for our small group. If you have room in your class to store a small blender I would highly recommend it. Though, I do have to admit I take my blender home to store and use as I find it makes a much better smoothie than our large Oster. Cheers!

fourth of july: coconut chia pudding parfait

This past school year, the kiddos were really into cooking, prepping, baking, and eating. The last recipe we tried was making chia seed pudding. If you are not familiar with chia seeds as a thickener or over all super food, check out this article. It was ridiculously simple and two of the children gobbled it up before it could set. I still need to post photos from our recipe day but here is a super easy patriotic parfait you and your children can whip up in a flash. Set time is at least two hours but an overnight rest is even better. If you want the texture to be firmer, add more seeds. If you want it to be sweeter, add more honey or other liquid sweetener of your choice (maple syrup is a good substitute).

Here's what you need to make four small parfaits...small meaning an 8oz mason jar. I added a little half n half to give the pudding a richer flavor. You do not need to do this. Some people add coconut water as well, some add different juices or other milks. I went with straight up coconut milk (the refrigerated variety, not canned) and it's just dandy. Chia seeds are on trend right now so the cost is a bit inflated. Trader Joe's sells a nice smaller bag for around $4 (I think it is 8oz). When I made the pudding with the kiddos at school, I picked up a cup of seeds from the bulk bin at Whole Foods. If you have never tried chia seeds I would try to find them in bulk. If the pudding is something you do not cotton to, you can add the seeds to smoothies, oats, cookies, or salads.

Pour your coconut milk into a medium sized bowl (I used a 4 cup measuring cup) and add your half n half. Next dump your chia seeds into the milk and add your honey as well. Use a wooden spoon to mix it up and add your vanilla. I also added a dash of cinnamon...I was feeling whimsical. Mix it all up and pop it into your refrigerator. If you think of it, after an hour or so, pull out the mixture and give it another stir or two. The seeds tend to settle on the bottom.

The next day, once the pudding is set you can assemble your parfaits. Place a handful of blueberries in the bottom of the jar, spoon a quarter cup or so of the pudding on top of the berries, add sliced or chopped strawberries and top with granola. I have to admit, chia pudding is will not win any beauty contests. Admittedly it looks a it alien and goopy. The mister will not touch it. You may want to liken it to the consistency of tapioca but that isn't right. The chia seeds are not as firm as tapioca or boba if anything the texture is a bit like a cold malt-o-meal...sort of. If you find that your mixture is too goopy, add another tablespoon of chia seeds, stir and let set. This recipe is really loose and you can play with the ingredients to get the texture you like.

This tiny jar full of goodness is adorable and ready for the 4th! Tie with a length of variegated cotton yarn or twine and throw a happy shindig!

Really, look how cute that is! It's tasty too! I suppose you could try making this pudding with any type of milk beverage. Oooh, I wonder what it would taste like with horchata? Or what if you got all decadent and omitted the coconut milk and used straight up half n half? The possibilities are immense!

See? Easy peasy. Kiddos can easily measure, pour, dump, and stir it all up. This is not an exact recipe so there is a lot of wiggle room. Now getting the young ones to eat it up may be a different story. Happy July 4th!

making fairy bread in the classroom

For our week of A Rainbow of My Own it was all rainbows all the time. For our cooking project I set up a fairy bread station. While it is not cooking as we know it, it is a lovely food prep project that kiddos really enjoy. We talk about steps and sequence, ingredients, and tools used. We observe what is on the table and the children make declarations and predictions. They then use their fine motor skills to spread the butter onto their bread and sprinkle the sprinkles on top. Food prep is a wonderful opportunity for learning. I try to incorporate it into the classroom each week. When we are unable to work on food or drink prep we usually follow a recipe of sorts such as making play dough. Enjoy!