1/3 gingerbread....

(The title of this post is a private joke for my parents -- trust me, they are laughing their butts off.)

The kids had a museum class themed around gingerbread, of all things. They read a few Gingerbread Man type stories (the classic tale, Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby, and another one about a Gingerbread Girl that is supposedly the sequel to the classic story, I'm not sure of the title or who wrote it). This is J's Gingerbread Man craft (which he made into a Gingerbread Girl).

J working on his craft during class.














Zoo Boy working on his craft









The boys play a Gingerbread Man memory game.












The kids also made "gingerbread men" out of toast, decorating with cream cheese rather than icing, and candy bits.

I'm not sure why they didn't make actual gingerbread, although I suspect it had something to do with the fact that Zoo Boy was in the class. This teacher is making an enormous effort to accommodate his sensory needs, and spent quite a bit of time discussing him with me prior to the class starting. While I deeply appreciate the motivation and sentiment, I've found that in The Boy's case, NOT accommodating him is usually best, as drawing attention to something is more likely to result in that something becoming an issue when it may not have otherwise. Mostly what he needs is to just know that he can escape a situation if he finds it too overwhelming.

In any case, he enjoyed the class, with just a bit of distress about the smell coming from the kitchen (though I'm not sure what was baking in there), which was easily handled with a fan and an open window and having me in the classroom to make that suggestion. However, I'm going to think twice about signing him up for future classes that might involve cooking. (I've still got a post in the works about the whole food thing -- it's coming, I promise!)