There's nothing better than a bright, juicy orange, don't you think? The stores are full of them at the moment and so I thought we'd have a little fun...
A great practical life activity: Squeezing Oranges
James LOVED this work and put some serious effort into squeezing the juice out of the oranges. When he finished he drank a cup full of juice, smiling in between sips. :)
A great practical life activity: Squeezing Oranges
James LOVED this work and put some serious effort into squeezing the juice out of the oranges. When he finished he drank a cup full of juice, smiling in between sips. :)
Notice the cute apron he's wearing? It was lovingly made for James by his Aunt Beth. I found the fabric at Joann's in April and knew it would make a fun Practical Life apron. Beth is a wonderful seamstress and when I asked her if she'd make the apron (I don't own a sewing machine), she very sweetly agreed.
And, because she has a heart of gold, she made a matching apron for me, too. Look at these - aren't they adorable?! She even embroidered them to read, "Chef James" and "Chef Mom". And...
the pockets read, "Happiness is Homemade". I about cried when I saw that. It could be my motto!Frozen Orange Cups
My niece and I made some frozen orange cups. Yummy! And so quick and easy, too!
First we squeezed the juice out of the oranges, then we poured the juice back into the cups and popped them into the freezer. I'd recommend eating them when the get to the "slushy" stage. They're a bit difficult to eat when they're completely frozen.
Perfect for a hot summer day!As James enjoyed his frozen treat, I read this book to him:
The Sun Egg, by Elsa Beskow. A sweet story about a little elf who comes across a giant orb in the forest and thinks the sky has dropped one of its eggs. She finds out it's an orange - or a "sun egg", as it is called by the other forest creatures. I love Beskow's books, although I'll say there are a few words that appear from time to time (e.g. stupid) that I do not love. I simply change the words while reading aloud to James.~Thank you for your comments!~
lol - that very book is going to be part of our preschooling in a few weeks - and I feel the same way about it! We've already read it a few times, and the first thing I did was change "stupid" to "silly". It is a great story, though.
ReplyDeleteAck, I thought I was the only one! I actually used white out for the 'you are so stupid' part and wrote 'you are not nice' over it. I really doubt they said things like stupid when the book was written and what was really said was lost in translation, kwim? But ahhh!! :) We don't allow that word in our house at all, along with the word 'hate'.
ReplyDeleteMy little one loves squeezing oranges and loves The Sun Egg. He is in the kitchen now squeezing oranges with his sister:) Thanks for the lovely tutorial:)
ReplyDeletexo
Linda
What a great practical life activity! I should try this with my son, he loves using kitchen tools :D
ReplyDeleteI did the same activitie in my classroom last winter!
ReplyDeleteBut we didn't have so beautiful aprons ;-)
Thanks for sharing
Hmm, now I'm hungry for some organges! How fun. I'll have to check that book out too, we've not read that one-
ReplyDeleteThe aprons are beautiful and James looks so darn cute in it!
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to give those frozen orange cups a try. I think Aidan would love it.
cute cute aprons! Love this activity as well!!
ReplyDeleteWow! I love the frozen orange cups. Wonderful idea. I love his little apron too. So cute!
ReplyDeleteWe don't use the word stupid either. I remember when we were watching Pres. Obama on TV for an State of the Union address (ya know, like when they take over all of the channels on the TV and you really have no other choice, but to watch) and he said "stupid." My little one jumped up and said, "Momma, he said a bad word." I was a little upset that my little monkey was hearing a bad word come out of our President's mouth.
Who wouldve thought oranges could be so fun?!
ReplyDeleteoff topic: The kids and I gathered some things for our fall nature table and sensory tub and wanted to send you a little bit of our fall. If you'd email me your address, we'd like to send a little package your way :) -Beth
ReplyDeletebmoore_mamabee (at) hotmail (dot) com
Love both the oj work and the oj frozen cups. How neat!
ReplyDeleteAnd your aprons are just wonderful! How nice that they are personalized.
We should do these works, too.
One that my boys love to do is a snack prep work that also involves oranges. You take a special plastic tube that has been made for the purpose of piercing the orange's peel to sit on top almost like the idea of a sippy cup. We found them at a kitchen store here in Florida.
Mari-Ann!
ReplyDeleteI just saw your activity trays-slideshow. OMG you must have a separate house for all your materials?!? Well, I saw the whole thing (!), and got very inspired, but now my problem is that I can't choose...
Thanks! :)
Mmmmmm! Oranges... I may have to go to the shops tomorrow and buy some more! A bit too cool here for frozen oranges now though, only plus two the other morning, bbbrrr! I will have to try and find a copy of The Sun Egg in English, I love her Illustrations and being Swedish, a lot of the animals, plants, food drawings will be instantly recognizable to Little Bean as found here in Finland.
ReplyDeleteMy shopping list is growing!
http://curiousinquisitivechild.blogspot.com/
Thank you for your comments!
ReplyDeleteForskoleburken: I *wish* I had a separate home just for my supplies! How fun would that be?!!
Mari-Ann
I did this & linked back to you :)
ReplyDeletehttp://naturally-mum.blogspot.com/2010/08/tangelo-juicing.html
What a neat idea with those orange cups. Love it! I will definitely be trying it with the kiddo soon.
ReplyDelete:)
I just found you through a link and added you to my reader. We are homeschooling too, and will use lots of your great ideas :) Thanks!
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