From Russia with Love

At first when I started planning for Russia, I was skeptical. What kind of projects could I do related to Russia? But as I got going, I found so many great things to learn and do and this turned out to be one of my very favorite weeks this summer.

First, we discussed some famous musicians from Russia. There are many, but we learned about Tchaikovsky since I knew the littles would love listening to the Nutcracker. I found an animated version with the music online, so I put it at a center and they loved it!



One really cool fact we learned about Russia was that they use trains for their main source of transportation. We learned about the electric rails used as well as the old fashioned railroads. We built some in the block center.



We really enjoyed building our public rail transport and pretending we were Russians!

Next, we learned about Faberge Eggs. The story is really great, I was surprised that it hasn't been made into a children's book. Here's what we found out: In Russia, families gather and trade eggs  on Easter as symbols of renewed life. In 1884, Easter was the Czar's 20th wedding anniversary and he wanted something really special for his wife. He asked a young jeweler named Peter Carl Faberge to design a special egg as a gift. The Czar's wife was so thrilled by the gift that Alexander awarded Faberge the commission to create an Easter egg for her every year. We made our own Faberge eggs! We used plastic Easter eggs and covered them with tissue paper and jewels.





We painted them with a modge podge water mix as we went.

Later we added glitter.

We also read this book which was a sweet story and great pair to learning about the Faberge eggs:



Next, we learned that in Russia many families have tea much like they do in England. So we researched what we would need to have a Russian tea party! We decided on Russian Tea Cakes, Pelmeni (also refereed to as Perogies) and apple juice.

First, we made our tea cakes which consisted of exactly 2 ENTIRE sticks of butter.



They are a dense crumbly texture. After baking you roll them in powdered sugar.



Ms. Natalie sautéed up some perogies for us.

Then we used an assortment of tea cups, plates and pots to serve our Russian Tea.

Adorable!



Everyone enjoyed the treats.



Next up, we learned about St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. It has some of the most unique and recognizable architecture in Russia. We used shapes to recreate our own Cathedrals.



We used markers to add details.

A few finished products.

Lastly, we made some Draniki which are basically the equivilant to Latkes. They are delicious potato pancakes and we wanted a little more deliciousness. :)

We used a short cut recipe and used pre shredded hash browns, but we had to squeeze the extra moisture out which was a lot!



Ms. Angela prepared them for us!

And they were as delicious as we had hoped for!

We ate them with applesauce, which is a tradition with potato pancakes.

Our trip to Russia was fun and educational. We enjoyed all of the cooking this week and everything we learned about Russian culture! Next week we are traveling very, very far away...to Brazil! Join us there for an Amazon adventure!