Summer Chefs

Oh boy, what a week! I feel full even writing this update!
This week's theme was Summer Chefs, and we made some really delicious dishes this week in camp.

Monday: S'mores Day!
There's something magical that happens when the otherwise ordinary graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate bar get together. That's right, you get the gooey, sticky, delicious treat known as s'mores!
Below, one camper demonstrated proper s'more assembly for the rest of the class. He also had a recipe for double-marshmallow s'mores, but it was a bit ambitious!








Tuesday: Jell-O Day
This was a perfect follow-up to our science activity from Monday (see below), and it was unintentional. As you'll read about below, our science activity was about dissolving and solutions, and one camper remarked during the Jell-O prep process that the powder was dissolving in the water---- amazing!!
We had three flavors: watermelon, orange, and lime.








After chilling for two hours, the jiggly treats were ready to eat! We ate them outside after playing in the sprinklers for a while... and as they were digging in, I overheard one camper say, "This is the best day ever!"





Wednesday: Pancake Day
We used a simple, dairy-free pancake recipe, using flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, water, oil, and vanilla. As you can see, the campers were able to do most of the prep work on their own. Way to go!












And after the cooked on the hot plate, it was time for toppings!
Cinnamon? Syrup? Bananas? Blueberries? Strawberries? Choices!!!!




Thursday: Fruit Kebab Day
While parents generously supplied the materials for the previous three recipes, the Camp provided us with materials for the kebabs:

Yes, you counted correctly: one strawberry per child! Throw in some pineapple, and these kebabs are, well, in need of something MORE.
Enter my assistant: she picked up some blueberries and watermelon to flesh out these tasty treats. Add in some leftover cheese from snack earlier this week, and we've got some nice lookin' food on a stick!







We brought them to Central Park for a refreshing treat on a hot and humid day. . .




After making all of these wonderfully delicious dishes, the campers reflected the following day about the ingredients and steps involved in each of our recipes. The campers drew pictures of some of the ingredients on one side of the paper, and illustrated steps on the opposite side. We also encouraged them to add words to describe some of their symbols and depictions. Today, they glued together each page and also added front and back covers. The cookbooks were created and assembled entirely by each child. We are so proud of their work.....Hooray!










Here is Janet's weekly Science Update:
We had a very tasty experiement today: we made our own solutions. We noticed that the mixture we added to the water disolved as soon as we poured it in. We also noticed that the water changed color almost immediately. The special mixture was Kool-Aid. The children had to opportunity to observe with a sense that they haven't yet explored with during science: taste. They each received different sized measuring spoons and were able to see after one scoop how the scoop affected the color of the solution they made. Through this experiment they discovered tactile sensitivity and they also started to think in terms of cause and effect. Finally, they were given an opportunity to touch, look at, and taste the Kool-Aid mixture without being told what it was. Some ideas:
Isabelle- It tastes like grapes.
Madeleine- It feels soft. It tastes kind of like sugar cherries.
Teddy- It feels soft.
Frankie- It looks like sand.
Carly- It tastes like grapes.
Jake- It tastes like sand.
Jaan- It tastes like strawberry.
Enrique- It smells like strawberries.
James: It tastes like grapes.
Riley- It tastes like medicine.
Tommy-It tastes like grape sugar.
Olivia- It tastes sweet.
Bennett- It feels like sand. It tastes like medicine
William- It tastes like candy.
Lara- It tastes like cherry.

They also got to write their own names on our chart and we recorded the amount of scoops they used to make their solution a dark red.
















Here are some photos of general 'food play.' We have lots of plastic food for pretend play, and one camper enjoyed making a fork disappear inside the hollow toy carrot.... surprise!

Assorted photos from the rest of our week below.
Next week's theme: Let's Go Camping!