We did Stone Soup again. Some of the kids brought their own veggies to contribute. Some kids are more likely to taste something new if they have more of a hand in the planning and prep of the food.
One little boy was so cute! When Grandma Cindy was showing the kids the vegetables that they needed to chop while she read, he was the first kid to excitedly proclaim which one was an onion. I think he's the only kid that cut it, too. And then when it was time to eat the soup, he made sure his mom found him a bowl with onion in it.
This time was smaller than usual due to last minute illness cancellations. So we were done with all the reading pretty quickly. We had 6 story tents and only 8 children. To buy time while the soup finished cooking, I had coloring pages for them to do.
In our soup we had zuchinni, cauliflower, brocolli, potato, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, canned peas, canned mixed veggies, canned green beans, egg noodles, onion, green bell pepper, and cooked hamburger. It was so yummy! Oh, and can't forget about the stone. The kids really enjoy taking turns stirring the soup and finding the stone.
This time I decided that I did not want to read. I enjoyed being able to stand back and monitor the flow of the event. I also helped usher children from tent to tent, especially my own. If I wasn't doing that, little 2 year old Quartus probably wouldn't have participated at all.
Big thanks to my friend Sarah who let us use her pop-up shade. The weather wasn't too hot, but it was nice to block some of the sun.
Three of our readers were "big kids" this time. My daughters, plus another 9 year old girl. I love giving the older kids opportunities to read to youngers. I think it has potential for such a good experience for both parties. And I think reading out loud to a group is an important skill for big kids to practice.
I used to own only two tents, thanks to my brother who was cleaning out before a move. So I really had to rely on other moms to bring tents to share.Then after a Tent Town or two, one supportive friend just let me hold on to hers. Then several months ago I picked up one through a free-cycle type group, bringing me up to 4. Finally, a few weeks ago I thinned out my baby clothes stash. I was able to exchange some of the clothes for two more tents at a consignment shop.
So now I personally own 6 kid-sized tents! Yay! Now I have one less thing to worry about when I want to plan another activity!
I like to have some kind of prize or favor for the kids to earn by filling up their entire stamp card. This time they got to pick out a book to keep. I went to Goodwill Outlet and picked up a bunch of early readers for only 25 cents each.
The books that were read in the story tents this time were More Spaghetti I Say, Horton Hatches the Egg, Gerald and Piggie, Leap Back Home to Me, I'm Already There, and From Head to Toe.
I'm hoping to get the next one planned soon since we missed our fall event.
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