i am...mai

Cooking, Crafts, and Another Concert

Arwen was cooking, and I don't mean in this humid summer heat.  We were invited to participate in the Hawaii's Li'l Chef keiki cooking class today at Island Monkeez with our friend, Chef Larisa.  

Larisa did an awesome job teaching a class of about 10 toddlers and preschoolers how to prepare quesadillas, a perfectly simple recipe for little hands.  The kids all seemed to have a great time selecting items to put into their quesadillas, and most of them enjoyed snacking on their creations when they were done.

This was our first time visiting Island Monkeez, which is located inside the Vim 'N Vigor store at Newtown Square in Aiea.  The facility is very nice, clean, and cool (love that AC!), and the items in the play area are primarily geared toward children aged two to four years.  This is the sort of place I wish existed when Arwen was in this age group.  Back then, it seemed like everything was designed for babies or kindergarteners.  She was the oldest in the room today but still enjoyed herself.  I think Arwen liked being "the big girl," as all the little ones followed her around the room.  Just a few words of warning about the Island Monkeez website before you visit that link - the class information is outdated, and I believe they are under new ownership as well.  I suggest giving them a call to check on current schedules and pricing before heading over there.

Aside from Arwen's culinary creation today, she's had a week full of arts, crafts, and music.

Tuesday, she had her third art class with My First Art Class, where Arwen stamped paint onto a T-shirt using household items (empty thread spool, potato masher, sponges, etc...) and her hands,

created this piece, titled "Turtle Beach", using bubble wrap and paint,

assembled and decorated a paper travel pouch,

and constructed this polenta and pasta artwork before breaking away for a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie and the Hokey Pokey.

Yesterday, we attended the Baby Hui's Art in the Park event - one of my favorite free kid things to do.  The day started out a little scarey with rain following us from home all the way to Moanalua Community Park, but aside from a passing light drizzle, it turned out to be a clear (but quite humid) day.

We finished our day at the Honolulu Zoo's final concert for this summer.  It was wonderful.  The rain earlier had cleared, and a light breeze cooled us down.  We had enjoyed a picnic dinner with some live jazz music, a surprise performance by Henry Kapono, ice cream for dessert, and a gorgeous sunset.

My First Art Class

I registered Arwen for an August session of My First Art Class to help fill up our summer vacation calendar.  Prior to this summer, we'd only sampled the My First Art Class program through a few Baby Hui events.  The projects were always fun, and we were interested in learning more, but Arwen's preschool schedule and travel over the last couple of summers kept that from happening.  What a treat to find that finally, at five years old - the tale end of age appropriate bracket, Arwen found a time slot that works, and the bonus is her classmate, Katie, signed up, too. 

The program runs for one hour, one day a week, for four weeks.  Each week, Renee sets up 3 or 4 art projects that revolve around a theme.  All supplies (even little aprons to wear) and instructions are provided, and the children are free (with a parent's assistance) to roam about the classroom to select which projects they'd like to do.  After 45 minutes of arts and crafts, everyone sits down for 15 minutes of song and dance.  We completed our second class today, and Arwen is just loving it.

Last week's theme was "Things You Find At The Beach," so Arwen...

made sand art (with little jewel treasures found in the sand),

painted waves,

and created a sunset using toy cars as her paint brush.

Then she chose to skip the "Smiling Sun" project to enjoy extra time at the "Play Clay" station.

This week's theme was "Things That Are Blue," and Arwen...

made a blue (rice) mouse,

painted a blue moon (with lots of sparkly glitter),

and created a blue tamborine to use during song time later.

Then she spent the remainder of her arts and crafts time

squishing her hands around in blue goo (just corn starch and water)

and working at that "Play Clay" station again.  I took home a recipe for the clay this time - a remedy for boredom when the class is all done.

We're so excited to see what teacher Renee has planned for next week!