TO KNEAD AND BE NEEDED!!!!!!!

     Now this will be a day that those little ones talk about over and over again.... and it all started with a recipe called:

MONKEY BREAD

 

 

2 cups warm water

1/2cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 T. Yeast

2 eggs, well-beaten

4 T. vegetable oil

6 cups flour

1 square butter

 

     Mix the water, sugar, and salt.  Add yeast and let rest 5 minutes.  Stir in 3 cups flour.  Add 4T. vegetable oil. Add 3 cups more of flour until smooth. Knead. Cover and let rise until double.  Stir down, let rise until double again.  Melt butter in a Bundt pan.  Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with a biscuit cutter.  Dip each piece in butter and line up in the pan around all edges.  Let rise 30 min. Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Invert on a plate and let everyone pull a piece off.

 

     I pulled a chair up to the counter and of course washed all of our hands and then let the children help make this amazing monkey bread.  They laughed and laughed at just the thought of it being call MONKEY BREAD!

     After our hands were caked with dough and really messy of course, we soon realized that we needed MORE flour to make the dough just right.  I turned to Andrew and said ought oh!  Problem, look at our hands and who is going to dip the measuring cup into the flour for more lol.  Well Andrew said no problem, I will, as he took his doughy hands and sure enough just dipped them right in the flour and had a gooey hand full.  I just laughed and we both just laughed.  Then time to knead the dough, I gave him some of his own and then I had my own and we pushed and pulled and grunted ha ha.  Then we rolled and cut and dipped the circles in butter and just had an amazing time.  Well once the dough was raised we put it in the oven and we had a total monkey bread mess ha ha.  But we took it out and turned it over and He was so so proud to announce his MONKEY BREAD to everyone! It was so yummy!

 

     Along with this fun Bread, don't forget to sing the 5 little monkeys siting in a tree song and be sure and read.  5 little monkeys jumping on the Bed. 

 

     You know, it's really easy to wipe a little flour off of your shirt and apron.  It's even easier to just sweep up the extra flour and wipe off the chairs with the spilt leftovers.  But ...... 

 

     I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT IT WILL BE A LONG, LONG TIME BEFORE THE MEMORY YOU CREATED THAT DAY WITH THOSE LITTLE ONES, WILL EVER BE ERASED FROM THEIR MINDS.......

     and that's what happens when you go to good old GRANDMA'S ATTIC, to find lasting treasures to SHARE with those adorable little ones.

 

Here's to another wonderful day with GRANDMAS COOKIES AND MONKEY BREAD ADDED IN!

 

 

     

 



To Touch is to Feel!!!!!!

     One of my all time favorite days to spend with children is the day you talk about the sense of Touch.
     I love to create surprises, and one fun and exciting way to do this is finding a shoe box and then taping the lid to it.  Then cut one end of the box off for your hand and the other end cut a round hole the size of a child's hand in it.  Then take a piece of cloth and cut it to the size of the round hole and cover the opening of it.  Then tell the children it is a magic touch box and they cant look but they can stick their hand in the round end and FEEL what is inside and GUESS??????????????
     This is so so much fun to do especially at this time of year being HALLOWEEN ha ha.  Fun things you can put inside of the box.  I love the looks on the children's faces ha ha.  Sure to make you laugh as they let out gasps and shrills of fun.
     Another fun idea is to take brown paper lunch sacks and put a object in each one and fold the end over and staple it shut and pass them around for the children to hold and feel.  Then let them guess and then have them each open the bag and see if they were right.

     For a fun idea to send home with them is to make each child a GRAB BAG!  I know for some you don't even know what a GRAB BAG is but for some of us, it was the high light of our lives growing up.  I remember getting them at the carnivals and paying 25 cents lol.  Always such a fun surprise inside.  My children could hardly wait to head to the State fair to go to the booth to pick out just the right one for them for $1.00 each lol.  So much fun.  But it will be a treat they will never forget.

     If you have time, it is great fun to let them make and touch and feel book to take home.  Use sand paper and extra fabric.  Anything for them to glue on a page and draw a animal around it.  So so much fun and they can share it with their own family after.  Don't forget to READ to them and nothing is better then touch and feel books.  There are so many fun books to read to them.

     For a treat I love to make what I call a GRANDMAS CREATURE COOKIE that not only they will love to feel but the taste will be even more amazing!!!!!!!!  Besides there is nothing that compares to a HOMEMADE GRANDMAS COOKIE...................................

    

Rock and Roll with SOUNDS!!!!!!!

     OK so if you have ears that hurt with the sound of banging pots and pans or crashing lid cymbal's then just maybe you shouldn't keep reading! 
     But let me assure the rest of YOU this will be one day that the children will never forget about.  SOUND.....................


     First take a stroll outside and have them listen to the sounds around them.Sounds like, vehicles or sounds from the sky.  What about the sounds of  music.  Talk about them.  Then let them make SOUNDS.  All kinds of sounds with different items.

     I enjoy using spoons and tapping pots and pans.  Or filling things with water for different sounds.  Even planning ahead and cutting pipe at different lenghts makes some awesome chimes.  Then add some scraping down a cheese grater.  For added fun turn on a great song with a beat and let them see if they can figure out the beat.  They can do it even at a young age.

     Then when its time to head in it will be snack time and hopefully you have made some delicious homemade Grandma Cookies or for fun you could make some rice krispie treats in the shape of a guitar or note and let them add some licorice ropes for the strings and M&M's for the tuner screws. 

     Then when its that tough time to have to head home, which I know they wont want to lol.  You can help them make a rain stick.  Get wrapping paper tubes and push large and small nails through the sides, not to many.  Then cover the outside of the tube with shelf paper that is sticky.  You will have to do the nails for the little ones first, but all ages can add the beans at the last and put the lid on.  Then tape it shut really really good on both ends and let them listen to the sound of rain.  They can even decorate the outside of the shelf paper.

     What a great day for exploring the sense of hearing.  What a great day for another fun and exciting adventure, and the best part is..........
You can find it all in Grandma's Attic, where the fun never stops and  our imaginations run wild.  Be sure and take some Grandma Cookies along, for when you get the munchies!!!!!!