Kalo & Play Dough

Intro to Kalo    

          

We chatted a bit about how kalo grows, and the importance of this Canoe Crop in Hawaiian culture and cuisine. Poi is a first food for many babies raised on the islands, as it is naturally hypoallergenic, easily digestible and high in calories, calcium, and iron. 

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Tree to cup coconut milk

        

Our farm family worked together to make coconut milk with the families. Tots nibbled on the fresh meat and sampled the milk before it was blended with frozen Ice Cream bananas and chunks of previously cooked Kalo. Many hands and many steps made for a truly delicious smoothie!

Kalo Smoothie

-Steamed and frozen kalo

-Frozen Ice Cream bananas

-Coconut Milk

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"Poi"Play Dough

To deepen the toddlers' concept of Kalo through sensory play, we made and pounded "poi" play dough.

      

Many children were eager to lend their hands in measuring the flour, adding the salt, oil and squeezing the lemons. We added the ingredients to the Instant Pot and whipped up a batch right there on the farm! After letting it cool, we played, pounded, sang, and wrapped up the dough to bring home. This batch was made with dried butterfly pea flowers, yielding a rich purple hue, but if made with fresh flowers, it produces a lighter colored dough as pictured in the recipe below.

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Story Circle

This week we read 'Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis, a book sharing the story of a family coming together in the traditional process of making poi for their luau. 

Reads and Resources

https://eatbreadfruit.com/blogs/culture-and-place/kalo-in-hawaiian-culture 

https://www.hipagriculture.org/aina-lessons/kalo-101 

https://kokuahawaiifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/KHF_HH_EdSheet_Banana-2.pdf 

https://www.nativebookshawaii.org/products/ohana-means-family 

https://empoweredparents.co/benefits-of-sensory-play/

Butterfly Pea Family Tea

Labor Day provided a chance for siblings and additional family members to experience the Tending to Tots farm magic! 

                           

                           

The children picked, washed, and took turns stuffing bright blue blossoms into a container, which we then filled with warm water and let steep for 15 minutes. A few families went on a side quest for lemon verbena which added a perfect hint of flavor. After the tea cooled, littles scooped out the flowers and squeezed in some honey. 

           

Each tot got a glass of blue tea and a wedge of lemon, and watched in awe as the splash of citrus turned the tea purple. Nature is magic! Simple experiments like this introduces STEAM concepts rooted in reverence, and collaboration...science with heart.

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To accompany our tea, we snacked on millet flour butterfly cookies- a fam favorite and perfect pairing with butterfly tea. These were made with plant butter and milk, and coconut sugar and adapted from the recipe linked below.

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Fresh Sand!

Push, scoop, dump, repeat. For our sandbox enthusiasts, this was pure joy! Sand slipping through closed fingers is a tricky and curious concept for littles to grasp- literally and figuratively. As the adage goes, the tighter you hold, the faster it goes...speaking also to the parenting experience for many. Oh, these sweet sandy toes! 

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Young children are nurtured by familiarity. Knowing what is coming next gives toddlers a healthy sense of security, and our circle times are class constants. For this reason, we repeat many of the same songs and stories- children under the age of five rarely tire of hearing them over and over again! The tunes and tales become woven into memory and children gain confidence in their ability to join their peers in song and movement.

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Reads and Resources:

https://www.yellowthyme.com/ragi-cookies-millet-cookies/#recipe 

https://kiddipedia.com.au/how-do-children-benefit-from-playing-with-toy-cars-and-trucks/ 

https://www.brighthorizons.com/resources/Article/Importance-of-Pretend-Play-in-Child-Development 

Splash wild, my child!

Welcome, September!

It was a rainy week on the farm, but what fun we still had splashing in buckets, picking flowers, making pesto, and towel sliding through the sprinkles.

  

No rain, no flowers

Between spurts of rain, we took our baskets to our flower rows, and filled them with brightly colored blossoms. The floral harvests were put into individual trays and later placed between blotting paper and cardboard pieces to dry and flatten for the next step in our craft process.

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Presto, Pesto!

                           

                                

                                         

                                   

From farm to table, the keiki had their hands in each step of the pesto process- from plucking the basil leaves from the bunches growing in the field, to taking turns adding the ingredients to the food processor. A palm full of pumpkin seeds, capful of salt, pinch of garlic powder, and squeeze of a lemon just pulled from the tree... presto, fresh pesto! When young children are involved in the harvesting process and amongst their peers, they are often more apt to try new foods!

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Stay Wild My Child!

This week, we read "Stay Wild, My Child" by Mandy Archer. This story sweetly shares that while there are some spaces and times that there are rules to mind, there is always a place to splash, play, paint, run, yell, and stay wild, my keiki.

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Reads and Resources:

ParentCo: The Liberating Effect of Playing Outside in the Rain

Science Daily: Children Eat More Fruits And Vegetables If They Are Homegrown

Stay Wild My Child: Kids Book Read Aloud

Twinkle, twinkle, small hōkū

Twinkle, twinkle, small hōkū

Shining down on our canoe (garden)

While the families arrive 

Caregivers chat and Keiki slide!

On this bright full moonlit week, through our snacks, songs and stories,

we wove in stars from the land, sky and sea! 

       

            

From Starfruit...

'Twas a shooting starfruit tree, indeed! Plentiful pockets of dangling yellow beauties. Caregivers helped the kiddos pluck and prep the fruit for slicing and being served atop coconut milk and butterfly pea flower chia seed pudding. 

       

To Star Soup.

We took our train to the herb garden to harvest chives, sage, and rosemary to add to our soup. The stelline pasta was a fun tie to our theme!

                                  

Planting sunflower seed starters...

We visited the nursery and the tots filled little pots with soil, carefully plopped in seeds and watered. There was SO much watering... and little hands working happily together!

Planting Verse:

A little seed for me to sow

A little dirt to make it grow

A little poke, a little pat

A little wish, and that it that.

A little sun, a little shower

A little wait...

And then a flower!

                           

Wet on wet watercolor painting- starry, sunflowery yellow!

(Link below with more information on the process)

Painting Verse:

The sunlight shines into each day

And sends the dark of night away

It brings the colors to my eyes

The bright green earth, the deep blue skies

The yellow sun, the red, red rose

That in the gentle garden grows.

And from within my loving heart

The lights always conquers dark

So on my paper let it be

Sunlight and water- joyfully.

-Author unknown

                             

Koko grooming and Shaka Socks nibbling

We feed snack scraps and produce that is too past it's prime to the goats and chickens. It was quite impressive to watch the goats down the bananas- peels and all! And the chickens sure pecked up those starfruit bits- so refreshing in this heat!

         

From hōkū to honu, our circle time brought these themes together!     

Reads & Resources

https://kokuahawaiifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/KHF_HH_EdSheet_Starfruit-1.pdf 

https://rhythmsofplay.com/single-color-wet-on-wet-watercolor-painting/

https://www.kidsdogardening.com/the-benefits-of-growing-plants-from-seed-with-children/ 

https://youtu.be/okmnvsJCdBw?si=JUw5mHqIL1dDkaAw