This week our theme is Passover to help get ready for the holiday next week. The Matzah Man: A Passover Story by Naomi Howland is a great story for children. It is a Passover version of the Gingerbread Man. This was a great book and Sprout seemed to enjoy it. She like the sing song rhythm of the book and the repetition, but I do think it was a little long for her as her attention definitely started to wander as we got to the last couple of characters. I'm hoping that reading it a couple more times might keep her attention. She also picked it up to read later.
To go with this book Sprout and I made matzah men (women). Or I should say we tried to make... I've never really made matzah before. I've been to matzah factories with students, but never really did it myself. Passover on the Net suggests a 1 part water to 3 parts flour mixture. This is what we used, and the rolled it out by hand. This Mama used a pasta maker to get her dough thinner. I think that would have been a great idea, but I don't have one...
After rolling out the matzah dough, we used cookie cutters to make the men and women. Around this point I started thinking that the dough was probably too thick, but I really couldn't get it any thinner (maybe more water??).
Then sprout was given a fork to poke holes in the men and women.
Then they went into a 500° oven for 5-7 minutes (my guess is 5 minutes would have been perfect if they had been the right thickness). Sprout thought she would check on them for me.
Here is our final project. As I said it came out a little too thick.
To see what others read and made this week go to A Mommy's Adventure.
We have to look for this book next year for Passover, it sounds great. I haven't tried to bake matzah by myself, but your efforts look decent enough, and I can definitely recognize matzah people there.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever cooked anything a 500°! Very interesting project. We've never tasted matzah before. What does it taste like?
ReplyDeleteBasically and unflavored cracker. Honestly, I'm not a fan and try to avoid it, but I wanted to try making it.
ReplyDeleteCute story and creative project!
ReplyDeleteWe did something similar earlier in the week, but with the Matzo Ball Boy story - we couldn't get this one from the library, but it looks great.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful project to go with the story. I think they turned out really nice. Even if they weren't perfect you both look like you're having fun together and she's getting great fine motor work from the dough.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea, I loved reading this book when I was teaching. I think we will have to get it from the library and try making some matzah!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking to stART :)
That's a great project. Even if it didn't come out right, it was still fun!
ReplyDeleteI just noticed that my daughter is the same age as yours! I have found that reading a book several times really helps my daughter "get into it". Some Books that she didn't seem interested in the first reading will become a favorite after the 3rd or 4th reading and then she will want to read it nonstop. Believe it or not, I've never had matzah before. Is that a shame? The book looks interesting, I love the Gingerbread Man story :).
ReplyDeleteI have to say, you're not missing much by not having had matzah. It is far from my favorite food. I find it dry and flavorless! And I'm looking forward to eating it for 8 days!
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