Stone Soup and Grandparents Day

 Stone soup in the studio is a tradition for grandparents day and each year the children enjoy preparing soup together for their special visitors.

I came to both classes and shared last year's stone soup storybook and the children enjoyed retelling it in the studio.

On the special day friends and family trickled in the studio to enjoy a bowl of soup and home made tortillas.

We had several requests for the recipe (each year's is different), so here you go:

• 2 
tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 
large onion, chopped
• 8 
celery ribs, sliced (on the diagonal is pretty)
• 2 
tablespoons minced garlic cloves (or 3 cloves, finely chopped)         
• 2
(1 lb) bags dried lentils, rinsed and sorted
• 12 
carrots, chopped
• 6 
cups broth
• 2
(14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 
tablespoon dried thyme
• 1⁄2
teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2
teaspoon black pepper 

Toss all the ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours (we left ours on overnight).  Share and enjoy.

Pumpkin pARTy

The children have been inspired by pumpkins in the studio in a variety of ways.  First they began observational drawing with fall inspired still-lives, next they sculpted them in clay with Amy and then painted their fired creations. Then, with all the cooking going on in the studio, several children had the great idea to make pumpkin food!

Of course, I listened and we spent the week preparing the studio for a pumpkin party.  We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie.  The children decorated the studio with beautiful pumpkin drawings and on Friday we celebrated our handwork with a pumpkin party.

Which involved a great deal of eating...

face painting...

And fun.
I had a request for our yummy soup recipe and I will admit that the children and I invented it so I don't have precise measurements but here is my best guess:
First bake a butternut squash and small pumpkin (cleaned of all seeds and face down on a oiled baking tray with 1/2 inch of water) til soft.
Spoon the baked squash and pumpkin into crockpot.
Add chopped onions, several chopped apples and carrots.
Add 1 can of lite coconut milk and 2 large containers of chicken broth.
Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.
Cook overnight on low.
Puree and serve.
YUMMY!

Clay in studio

Amy has been in the studio with the children most of the week, exploring clay and sculpture alongside our young artists.  We all learn so much from one another!