Summer School: Letter O

Today's letter was O. Munch already knows how to make them with wood pieces, so she got started on that while I finished preparing our other activities. I taught her to write the letter and say its sound, as is our usual routine. Today's letter collage had us brainstorming words that begin with O and gluing spots of oatmeal-
Our craft was an adorable paper owl- you can get the template from DLTK's Crafts for kids. (The upper and lowercase letter templates on our letter collage came from there too.) We started by sorting the shapes and counting and comparing quantities before Munch glued the pieces together-

Next up was our cooking project- we made Fannie Farmer's Oatmeal Scotch Chews. Munch got to measure and mix up the ingredients

as well as pat the mixture into the baking pan
While the oatmeal bars baked, Munch got to try out the obstacle course I had created in the living room. We had carpet squares to jump across, a pillow mountain to climb, a ball to roll across the coffee table into a box, little beanie babies to count and toss into a hoop, and a "ladder" taped to the ground to straddle and climb across.
Our oatmeal bars came out of the oven just in time for lunch (they're reminiscent of those yummy Nature's Valley oat granola bars, except chewier and more buttery)-

Oatmeal squares
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. oats (not instant)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a 2 qt. saucepan. Stir to combine over medium heat until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and add the vanilla, oats, baking powder, and salt. Mix well then pour into prepared baking pan. Pat mixture firmly and evenly across bottom of pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack before cutting and serving.