Inspiration struck as we were working in the twins’ workbooks yesterday. There was an idea for making letters out of dough at the bottom of the page. As I read about the activity, I remembered our yummy chocolate dough that we used to shape heart cookies for Valentine’s Day. So I asked the twins if they would like to make their names out of dough. Of course, they did! So last night, Kelsey helped me prepare the dough. It has to chill over night, so we made it ahead of time.
We got the dough out and started making letters by rolling the dough into snakes and then forming letters from it. I made the letters for Emma. She just kept pressing her dough flat.
Garrett and Fiona jumped right in and started forming the letters of their names.
Emma had fun playing with the dough. She paid scant attention to the letters, but she got some fine motor skill practice rolling the dough and flattening it out.
She got to make a gingerbread man with a cookie cutter, too.
Kelsey and Morgan came and joined in the fun. Most of the dough had already been used by the time they got there.
Kelsey started seeing other words she could make with the letters from her name: key, yes, keel, see
The twins carried their tray over to the oven. They were planning to bake them, but I wouldn’t let them put them in the hot oven. I put them in for them.
This is how Emma and Abby’s names looked after we baked them.
This was one time that the ones who have longer names were glad for all those letters! But Morgan ran out of dough before he could spell his whole name.
Kelsey told me she thought of another word she could spell with some letters from her name. She kept it a secret until the letters were baked. Then when they came out, she showed me the word she had thought of: Sky
Morgan was able to spell Go. He was happy with that.
I told the cookie bakers that they had to share the cookies with the big kids since they didn’t get to make any. They did such a good job of sharing that Anna said that she ate way too many and she felt bad about taking cookies from babies!
Here is the recipe for the chocolate dough:
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
In large mixer bowl cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs; blend well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture, blending thoroughly. Chill until dough is firm enough to handle. We chill it over night. It works really well then.
Form whatever shapes you desire.
Bake in a 350°oven for about 6 min.
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
