Kids in the kitchen

P, 5, orange, oh my, along with a little pumpkin pie! Today we worked on the letter P, number 5, the color orange, and the rectangular shape. We counted to five and reviewed the Spanish word for orange, which reminds me that I should count with them in Spanish too (mental note for tomorrow). We sang the "p" sound song. Then I read the story Piggie Pie!, by Margie Palatini. I love this story and so does M. Our book, though it is only 4 years old looks tattered and worn. I love this book, because it lends itself to great animation when read out loud. Even S was able to last through this book and it takes about 10 minutes to read. We talked about how the pigs dressed up to trick the witch named Gritch. We also discussed what would happen at the end, but you will have to read the book to find out:0) Next we read Dora's Perfect Pumpkin, by Kirsten Larsen. This is a book about Dora and Boots finding the perfect pumpkin for Abulea to make a pumpkin pie. We talked about the fact that pumpkins are orange. It also has red tomatoes and yellow peppers, so we had to talk about that too. It is always good to practice our color words. Finally we did the best part of today for me and for the kids. We made pumpkin pudding. It takes vanilla pudding, pumpkin, and cinnamon. I passed out a bowl and a spoon to each child. I gave them strict instruction to make sure they waited for all the directions (in kiddie language of course). I told them that each of them would get to put 3?4 of a cup of pudding into their bowl. That would be 3 scoops, becasue we were using a measuring cup that was 1/4 of a cup (alittle math even if they are young), then they would put 2 tsp. of pumpkin, and finally 1/8 tsp. of cinnamon. I told them that while everyone was getting their ingrediants in that they needed to wait until everyone had theirs. Finally they were all able to mix it up. I hleped S first since he is the youngest, then I went to Anya and then to Grace. This gave them time to try to mis it up themselves. Then I finished it for them. It might have been a surprise if they didn't have it mixed all the way and they got a bunch of pumpkin or cinnamon. S didn't care for the pudding all that much. M had it gone in a flash, say it has pumpkin in it and he is there. G took awhile to eat hers, but she seemed to really enjoy it. AP tried dipping pretzels in it, but left many uneaten pretzels, so I would say she didn't like it. AR was just happy to do it all. I tasted it and thought it was good. If you are doing with with more then one kid you just want to really stress the directions, going over them before you give them any materials to make a mess with. S was even able to wait, which honestly surprised me considering the temptation I was placing before him. Tomorrow is another awesome craft in my opinion. I hope it goes over well with the kids.