Homemade Peanut Butter

homemade peanut butter for tomorrow's toast
Originally uploaded by dalbhat

The kids and I went to a children's film festival last year. One of the films showed two children in the kitchen alone making peanut butter. There was talking but it was in a language we couldn't understan, so we enjoyed the musical background. The film ended with the two children, most likely brother and sister, eating their peanut butter with honey and bananas on toast...and giggling a lot with a big mess around them!

Since viewing that short film, we've been wanting to make our own peanut butter and now we have. It's easy and tasty. All you really need is peanuts, oil and a mixee/food processor. We also added a pinch of salt and sugar!

Our mixee is a small grinder so we made several small batches. Add unsalted, roasted peanuts to the rim, throw in a dash or two of salt and a heavy hand of sugar. GRRRRRRRIND til smooth. You can leave it a bit crunchy too, if that's your thang.

We put it on toast and buns for tasting. Then saltine crackers. We'll try some peanut butter cookies too.
Be sure to have children make their own labels listing ingredients and nutritional info. You can look this up with them.

WALL PAINTING

DSCF3949
Originally uploaded by dalbhat

Give your kids a bit of your wall space and let them surprise you! It takes a bit of courage and a bit of guidance but I have found that the kids usually surprise you only in positive, completely creative ways!

A method that works well if you are working with many children on one wall is to portion the wall off with pencil lines (or circles) first and let them work in their own spot.

At the school where I work, we took a long wall and made boxes in pencil all along the base of the classroom so the kids could actually sit and paint their own box. This style worked very well and we have taken it into village schools as well - with our own students conducting the workshops!

Use an acrylic-base paint for longer lived art!