Author Archive for gravitybread – Page 2

Bear’s Birthday

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Monday, April 16th, 2012

Bear’s Birthday by Stella Blackstone, Illustrated by Debbie Harter

 

 

 

 

Stella Blackstone is one of my favorite children’s authors. She writes simple and beautiful books. The illustration in her books are absolutely beautiful and bring the story to life. This book happens to be especially special because this past week was my daughter’s birthday. We read this book many times over and over again. The book is about Bear’s special birthday day. The book discusses how his friends come over, what they do at the party and how they celebrate.  I love this book because it has a clear beginning and ending and adheres well to sequencing. Since it is a book most children can relate to, many children will be able to retell the story pretty easily. On one page, the author asks you to “find the birthday bear” within a busy scene. This can help your child’s visual tracking skills. You can ask your child “How is the birthday bear different than the other bears in the book?”. There is also a cat that tries to pop the balloon throughout the story which can elicit commenting and answering “wh” questions (e.g. “Why is the cat trying to pop the balloon?”, “What will happen when the cat pops the balloon?”, “What will it sound like when the balloon pops?). Answering these questions can elicit more language concepts such as describing, commenting and the list can go on forever! Engage your child in this book and ask them “What would you like to do on your birthday?” or “Tell me about your last birthday party”. If you child has trouble answering an open ended question, take out your last birthday album or show them pictures on your computer and talk about your party last year. Seeing the actual photographs from their party can help them answer questions and talk about their birthday. At dinner last night, we talked about what bear was eating with his friends and what my children ate at my daughter’s birthday party. It also has a nice counting activity at the end of the book.

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Categories : Favorite Books, Language and Mealtime

Food App: Matzah Ball Builder

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Monday, April 9th, 2012

This app I came across when searching for Passover apps for my children. I was curious and decided to download it (it was 99 cents so it wasn’t much of an investment). The app is like a Mr. Potato Head for the Matzah Ball. You can choose various backgrounds and body parts. I would love to see an update with some music and actions [like making the Matzah Ball dance or have him swim in some soup:)]. This is a great app to sit with your child and do together because they may need some help navigating through the body parts. As far as language concepts go, you can target colors, body parts, gender, size concepts (big, small), describing, “what’s missing?” and commenting to just name a few. This app also forces you to put the body parts in the right place (versus other apps which automatically put it in place). This can be a great app to play before making or having some Matzoh Ball soup for your next meal.

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Categories : Food Apps, My Favorite Food Apps

Fruity Peach Tea

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Saturday, April 7th, 2012

I love peach tea but hate all of the sugar or artificial sweeteners. Here is a simple peach iced tea recipe that is slightly sweet but not overpowering. You can modify it however you want with frozen fruit and adjust the nectar and sugar to your liking. This tea feels like a treat when you are drinking it!

Ingredients:

1. 4 tea bags of peach tea (I used Celestrial Seasonings Country Peach Passion)

2. 1 cup of peach nectar

3. 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries or berry mix

4. 1 cup of frozen peaches

5. 1 cinnamon stick

6. 6-7 cups of water separated

 

1. Bring 2 cups of water, nectar, cinnamon stick and frozen strawberries to a boil.

2. Turn off heat and add tea bags.  Steep for 4-6 minutes.

3. Drain and reserve liquid. Put the tea in a pitcher and chill.

4. Add ice, frozen fruit and remaining water.

5. Enjoy!

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Categories : Drinks

Mondel Bread

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Saturday, April 7th, 2012

This passover recipe was originally given to me by a friend of my moms. Its a delicious recipe that is definitely addicting. The mondel bread is crunchy, sweet and satisfying. It is something I make each year and can’t get enough of.  Depending on how you keep Passover, you would need to adjust some of the ingredients below to make sure they are kosher for Passover. Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients:

6 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of butter softened
6 oz chocolate chips
2 teaspoons of sugar with a little cinnamon
2 3/4 cup of cake meal
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of potato starch

1. Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time.
3. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients (potato starch, cake meal, salt)
4. Add dry to wet ingredients.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Form into two logs and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of each loaf.
7. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. I slice it after a couple of minutes out of the oven and toast each side for about 5 minutes.

 

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Categories : Baking, Cookies

Food App: More Buffet

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Sunday, April 1st, 2012

More Buffet by Maverick Software Inc.

I love this app because it incorporates international food. It begins with selecting a country on a 3D globe that you can spin and zoom. Once you choose the country, you can add food from that specific country to your plate. This teaches your children (and you!) about various foods from different countries. It also teaches what flags and colors are associated with each country and where that specific country is located. This app can help your children explore new foods without actually eating them. This app can also get you prepared to go to a special restaurant or if you are having a special dinner either at your house or  a friends house.

As far as language goes, this app is endless in helping increase vocabulary of new foods, countries, etc. in addition to helping your kids try something new!

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Categories : Food Apps, My Favorite Food Apps

Chopsticks by Amy Krause Rosenthal

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Sunday, April 1st, 2012

Chopsticks by Amy Krause Rosenthal, Illustrated by Scott Magoon

 

 

 

 

 

When I first saw this book I was so excited to read it to my daughter because she loves chopsticks. She finds them very fascinating and fancy. She always wants to try them out when I am eating sushi for dinner. This book is about a pair of chopsticks who feel they can’t function on their own until one chopstick gets hurt and the other chopstick must venture out on its own. The chopsticks both realize that they can do many things separately and apart. Its a wonderful life lesson in being independent and learning new things on your own. It has many funny silly puns in the book that flow perfectly when reading it to your child. It also incorporates new vocabulary (e.g. “whisk”),and problem solving (e.g. asking your child “What would you do if you got hurt?” after the chopstick gets hurt in the book). I also love the facial expressions of the various characters in the book. My daughter loves this book so much she has slept with it the past four nights!

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Categories : Favorite Books, Language and Mealtime

Liege Waffles

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Monday, March 26th, 2012

These waffles are very special. They are special because I only make them once a year for my husband’s birthday. They taste like no other waffle that I have ever had. As a warning though, you will have a mess in your kitchen.  I usually don’t mind the mess but considering I make a mess of  my kitchen on a daily basis, I try to avoid very large messes that involve sugar that hardens up on my waffle maker. After everything is cleaned up and this waffle is in your tummy, you will be happy. It is sweet, crisp and absolutely delicious.  It’s worth all of the hard work! I got the original recipe here. This website has a lot of interesting waffle recipes and also gives some good information about what waffle irons are traditionally used for Liege Waffles.

Here is how I made it:

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 cup of all purpose flour (plus more depending on how your dough is forming)

1 cup of cubed sugar (mashed up in small pieces)

1 cup of melted butter

3 eggs

1 package of yeast

1/3 cup of lukewarm water

1.5 tablespoons of brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of maple extract

Directions

1. Mix yeast with lukewarm water and brown sugar. Let proof. If the yeast doesn’t bubble start over. I have made the mistake of thinking “It will be okay even though its not bubbling”. I was wrong, because it wouldn’t rise and then I would say to myself  “It definitely needs to bubble!”.

2. In another bowl mix whole wheat and all purpose flour and salt. Make a well and pour yeast mixture in.

3. Add eggs, melted butter, extracts and knead until you get a nice smooth elastic dough. You may need to add more flour during this step.

4. Put in well oiled bowl and let rise until doubled.

5. Punch down and fold in crushed sugar.

6. Let rise again for 15 minutes.

7. Heat up your waffle iron and get ready for some yummy waffles.

 

 

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Categories : Uncategorized

Cinnamon Apple Iced Tea

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Thursday, March 15th, 2012

I starting making iced tea recently and I love it. The iced tea I made used white tea. I thought for some reason that white tea didn’t have caffeine. Anyway, after a night of not sleeping too well and wondering “Why am I not tired?”, I googled, “white tea” and “caffeine”. Apparently, white tea does in fact have caffeine so in addition to my already high intake of caffeine, I was drinking all of the iced tea with caffeine! I wanted to make a tea that was sweet, easy and that was decaf so I can enjoy it at night without worrying that it would affect my sleep. I saw a cranberry apple tea that was decaf and looked like it would be good base for iced tea.

 

Here is how I made it:

6 cups of water, separated

1 apple

1 cinnamon stick

4 bags of cranberry apple tea

1/2  cup of apple juice

2 tablespoons of raw sugar

Directions

1. Pour 2 cups of water, apple juice, apple (cut up), sugar and the cinnamon stick in a pot. Once the water comes to a boil, take off heat and add tea bags. Let steep for 4-6 minutes.

2. Drain and reserve the liquid.

2. Pour in pitcher. Let cool in fridge.

3. Add remaining water and ice.

4. Drink. Yum.

 

 

 

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Categories : Drinks

Food Apps and How They Can Encourage Language

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Like many others,  I do love my iPad.  As many other parents know,  the iPad can be something a whole family can love. Maybe a little too much! I use my iPad with both my children at home and during my therapy sessions at work. There is a great website called TherapyApps411.com. This website is a great resource for therapists such as myself.  They give excellent suggestions and reviews of apps and can also be useful for parents in finding specific apps that they can use to encourage language.

Since cooking and baking are such a common daily experience for my children, they were very specifically interested in these food apps that I am going to discuss. They loved that they can do some cooking and baking themselves! They are also great for parents because there is no mess! This should not replace having them help you in the kitchen but it can be used as a supplemental activity that can carryover what you have already made or might make in the future!

Also, please note that most of the apps that I enjoy and recommend aren’t solely for the iPad. Check each individual app for that information. For my uses, I talk about the iPad because that is what I use.

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Categories : Food Apps

My Favorite Food Apps

By gravitybread · Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

I am going to list my favorite food apps and also some simple language goals and/or concepts that you might work on when using these apps.   Please note that my suggestions never replace any speech language therapy with a certified speech language pathologist. My suggestions are for parents who want to encourage language at home, prepare their children for the kitchen and have some fun on their iPad.

Easy Bake Ultimate Oven: This app is free! First great thing. Memories of easy bake oven growing up, second great thing!

When I saw this app I was so excited because I loved the graphics. It was simple and the photographs were so realistic. My son even tried to eat the cupcake off the screen (I am NOT kidding!). After some cleaning of my screen and some simple explanation why we don’t eat the screen, we worked on building our cupcake and cookie. With this app, you get to choose a cupcake (great opportunity to work on colors).  Then you are asked to “mix batter” (great way to encourage literacy, sight word vocabulary and actions). Then you are asked to fill the batter (you can work on numbers and counting during this section), bake it and then decorate it.  This app is so fun and educational because it targets many concepts such as colors, the alphabet, sight word vocabulary, actions, increasing vocabulary and sequencing.  It also helps children prepare for baking cupcakes or cookies themselves!

More Breakfast:

This app was created by Maverick Software LLC, which has created many other excellent food apps. The app is priced at 99 cents. In this app, you are able to choose if you want to cook eggs and bacon, pancakes, waffles, omelettes, french toast, oatmeal and cereal, toast, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, drinks and toppings and sides. The list is comprehensive and each menu choices has its own specific directions and vocabulary that is related to it. If I want to make pancakes, it first lists the recipe with the picture. This a great opportunity for you to read the recipe with your child and discuss what a recipe is. The next screen comes up with all of your ingredients (e.g. for pancakes there is a photo of flour, egg, buttermilk, baking soda and salt. You place all of the ingredients in the bowl and then mix. You can even tap the egg to crack! Its so cute. After mixing, you make your pancakes in the pan. You then add to the plate and can add your toppings such as a donut, a biscuit, an egg and many other choices.  At the end you can eat the pancake. This app targets concepts such as encouraging literacy, improving and increasing specific language, following directions, sequencing, colors and counting.

Snackerdoodle:

 

 

 

 

 

This app was also created by Maverick Software LLC. This app is so much fun and incorporates food with creating drawing and coloring on the iPad.  When the app opens you can choose to “snackify” a photo, pick  a background or start from scratch. Once you choose from the paint palatte, you can pick a food category of fruit, veggies, pasta, nuts/seeds, sweets and misc. This app is great for language because it teaches colors, food groups, expands your child’s vocabulary of specific food, and exploring various foods with art on the iPad. What a great way to have fun with food!

Cake Pop Maker: 

 

 

 

 

This app is made by Ryan Fuller. It is great because its free and really takes you through the steps of making a cake pop. My kids love making cake pops and this app is great carryover. You get to fix the flavor cake pop, put all of the ingredients in the bowl, mix and then place the batter in the pan. The pan gets placed in the oven where you have to wait. It even has a step to chill the cake pops in the fridge. You can decorate them several ways and even change the background.  Playing this app will definitely teach your child how to make cake pops. It targets colors, sequencing, following directions,  and concepts such as before, after, etc . It also can encourage lots of commenting, as the other apps do. I know once we start playing this app, I am going to have to start heating up my pop cake maker!

 

 

 

 

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Categories : My Favorite Food Apps
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