Masks or Cakes?

Liz Hladek

• January 25, 2025

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We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 13th. Please make a valentine box with your child that is large enough to hold plenty of cards and treats and bring it to school any time the week of Valentine’s Day! If you would like to provide items for the class party, click here and sign up! You can leave your child’s valentines blank or address them to each child. If your child would like to have the names of their classmates on their valentines here is a class list:

Hello JK families,

We have been closely watching the children’s play in the days following the holiday break to see some areas of interest. Bubbling out of art center, is the desire to make masks, or more specifically face coverings made out of their artwork- the eyeholes are optional! Ranging from trees, to hearts, and even some faces, the children want strings attached to their art so they can wear it! Since Miss Claire and I have been busy making each child multiple masks daily, we decided to extend this idea further. We presented the children with cardboard, a variety of papers, foam balls, buttons, beads, feathers and more to see what kind of mask they would make. The foam balls as large eyeballs were a hit! The children also showed an interest in drawing a shape around their glued on items and cutting it out.

Simultaneously, cakes and other pastries have been popping up in both play-doh and blocks centers. We’ve seen both tall stacked block creations adorned with gems and smaller sheet cakes made with dough and encrusted with crystals and beads. Whether tall or small, these cakes are always presented with such pride! With baking on the brain, we decided to let the children decorate a variety of boxes with pretend icing (glue mixed with shaving cream and food coloring) sprinkles, and glitter. They loved spreading the icing over their cakes, and even squeezing it on with piping bags. We also provided play-doh with markers and a range of cookie cutters and baking pans.

After the masks, cakes, and cookies dried we decided to let the children revisit any activity of their choice. We re-launched both the masks and the bakeshop and let the kiddos go wherever they wanted! Just about every child chose to continue working on the cakes and cookies in the bakeshop. There was conversation between the children about celebrations that call of specialty cakes, an interest in adding more decorations, and of course the desire to take a bite! Next week we plan to talk with the children to discuss what they know, wonder, and want to learn about bakeries and baking. We are excited to see where this may take us!

Stay warm out there,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Cakes and Baked Goods

Mask Making

Daily Discovery and Big Books