Smooth(ie) Mama

I wanted to end the last day of my "snack mom" stint with a bang. I decided to prepare smoothies with the class. This mission served two purposes:
1. To provide a fun, healthy food activity for the children.
2. To help reacclimate Izzy to his classroom after recent separation issues.

I chose to make smoothies because not only are they a perfect snack option, but they are also "Kosher for Passover." I thought I had everything carefully planned but things didn't go so smoothly before school, what with a 5:00 a.m. coughing jag and a giant water bug to wrestle with it is no surprise we were a bit late getting to school (my apologies Miss B.).

Nevertheless I managed to tote in milk, yogurt, raspberry jam, bananas, apples, frozen strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and a blender, with Izzy trailing behind. Miss B. set up a table for my "smoothie station" near the tiny pump sink (quite a hindrance for quick cleaning). Before I had even set out all of my wares I was pleased to see that a crowd of kids had begun to gather. I wondered why they were discouraged from pulling up a chair (Is that a Montessori rule I am unaware of?)

Izzy served as my capable though selfish sidekick, continually insisting it was his turn to do everything (I sense a food show in the works.) This was slightly comedic for me, though perhaps supremely annoying to his classmates. He eventually relented and allowed his classmates to take turns adding fruit and turning on the blender (which I might add, makes an excruiatingly earsplitting sound).

I had actually anticipated giving a food lesson of sorts but it turned out to be a more free-form affair. I let the kids choose their own fruit combinations which may have not been the best idea. The ones who insisted they didn't like one fruit or another (honestly I had never heard of someone not liking strawberries before), didn't seem to like their smoothies very much at all. Whereas the children most open to suggestion gladly slurped theirs down. Hmmmm...

I could start to draw all sorts of conclusions from this experience but clearly I don't have enough data here. Overall I'd say it was a success even if just for, as Miss S. put it, "The buzz I created in the classroom." One small step for kids eating healthy snacks...