Friday, December 17, 2021

What's for dinner? How bout some chicken noodle soup!


The children requested another cooking project.  Happy to oblige, we settled on chicken noodle soup.  
Which involves A LOT of vegetable chopping!
If you don't have one of these knives at home I highly recommend getting one!  Your child will become your best kitchen helper in no time!  For best results, clarify that the goal isn't speed, but careful, deliberate chopping.  Your child's precision will surprise you! 

The added bonus of all this work was getting to participate in all of the conversations gathered around the table.

Want to make our soup at home?  We thought you might say that!  The talented Cadence, in Ward Hobbs XP, wrote up the recipe for you:

Once all that chopping was done, we cooked our soup in an Instapot, sautéing the vegetable ( in butter or oil of choice) before adding the chicken (you could use left over turkey!), broth and seasonings (oregano, basil, salt and pepper) to cook.  When your soup is all done, just ladle the yumminess into bowls, top with cooked noodles and ENJOY!

Prepare to be satisfied!

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Amy is back!


Amy is back in the studio doing her mud magic!
Here is an inspiration shelf set up with sculptural provocations. 
It has been an absolute joy watching the children choose thier animal as muse before setting to work with clay and tools.


The results are wonderful!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Another Autumn Week celebrating with Ward Hobbs



If you are having a tough day, rake some leaves and don't just watch the children play, get in the mix and PLAY too!

We continued our sunflower paintings...
And added some pumpkins.


To keep the investigations going, BJ stepped in for some fun-filled pumpkin carving.
We even experimented with techniques to vary the light in each pumpkin and indulged in some roasted pumpkin seeds!

Stay tuned to see what fun we get up to next week!

Thursday, October 21, 2021

440 Celebrates Autumn, Van Gogh and Planes

We painted on our clear easel and then pulled prints inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings.



Inspired by the changing colors we tried our hand at some observational drawing.

The children have been interested in planes and are making some 3D planes of their own with found objects.


It was another fun-filled week with the children!!!




Ward Hobbs celebrates Autumn!

Fall is in the air and nature is dripping with color!  We used this motley display as an inspiration for some observational drawing.

Drawing in this way helps us to slow down and linger in the beauty.  This supports our ability to express  what we see in a variety of creative mediums.

Outside, the gardens keep on giving.

To celebrate the children and I harvested tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and basil.

Then spent the day washing and cutting and prepping our food.  Once the trays were full we drizzled them with olive oil, a tad of balsamic and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Popped them in the oven to roast and then we ATE!  MmmMmm good!

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Amy is back playing with mud in the studio!

We are so happy to welcome Amy Laugesen back to the studio for a wonderful yearlong clay collaboration!  Amy will be joining us every month or so to provide the children with support as they explore and express using the language of mud!

With fall is in the air, Amy celebrated the turning of the seasons by bringing some autumn inspiration to investigate alongside Clay.

While they work, the children are experimenting with a lot of techniques including rolling, making impressions, coiling, scoring, joining and basic pinch and poke techniques. 
It’s an absolute joy to watch them play and discover with this wonderful media!

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Toddler Explorations

This week Angelina is exploring the language of watercolor with the Toddler classes...




And Amy is introducing playdough as a first step toward clay.




Together we are having a FABULOUS time!