Dough Is a Structure, Not Just a Recipe One of the things that surprises kids when making bread for the first time is how physical it is. Bread dough pushes it stretches, tears, an changes texture in your hands as you work with it. A lot of modern cooking hides process from children. We buy things already sliced, frozen, sealed, or ready to heat. Bread-making slows everything down enough to actually watch transformation happen. What we call “kneading” is really the process of building structure. As flour and water combine, proteins called glutenin and gliadin begin forming gluten strands. Those strands create an elastic network capable of trapping the carbon dioxide produced by yeast. Without that structure, bread would stay dense and flat. That’s why kneading matters. Too little kneading and the dough struggles to hold shape but too much flour and the dough becomes stiff and too much handling and some doughs become tough. Kids can actually feel these changes happening in real time, which makes this a surprisingly powerful science lesson. They are learning through resistance, texture, observation, and adjustment instead of memorization. Bread-making also teaches something we do not talk about enough anymore: transformation often looks messy in the middle. Sticky dough eventually becomes smooth. Shaggy dough becomes elastic. A rough beginning becomes something workable through time and attention. Honestly, that may be one of the best lessons in the entire process. Today, you have two options, in the Classroom check out #Day 6: Rustic Skillet Flatbreads or Kids Can Bake Personal Pan | https://skoo.ly/kids-pan-pizza One dough ball, one little baker. Bring a kid to the counter. What are you baking today?

Have you ever stopped to think about how old some of our favorite games might be? Take 20 Questions, for example. Most of us have played it at some point. One person thinks of something. Everyone else asks yes-or-no questions. Twenty questions later, someone either makes a brilliant guess or realizes they should have asked better questions. It feels simple, but there is more going on than we might realize. No one knows for sure when the version we know today became popular, best guess was in the early 1900s, and later exploded in popularity through a radio program called Twenty Questions. Contestants tried to identify a person, place, or thing using only twenty yes-or-no questions. Listeners played along from home, and the game became a national sensation. What I find interesting is why the game has lasted. At first glance, it seems like a guessing game. In reality, it is a question-asking game. Success depends less on knowing the answer and more on knowing how to gather information. A question like “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” tells you far more than randomly guessing “Is it a giraffe?” That skill shows up everywhere in life. Scientists ask questions. Detectives ask questions. Journalists ask questions. Teachers ask questions. Curious children ask questions. The quality of the answer is often connected to the quality of the question that came before it. One of my favorite twists on 20 Questions is to pay attention to the questions themselves. Which questions helped the most? Which ones accidentally sent everyone down the wrong path? Which questions opened up new possibilities? Sometimes the game isn’t really about finding the answer. Sometimes it’s about learning how to think. Today, if you play a round or two, listen carefully to the questions being asked. You might discover that the most interesting part of the game isn’t the mystery object at all. It’s the way people work together to narrow the possibilities and make sense of what they know. And if you’re curious, look up the history of the Twenty Questions radio show. It’s a fun reminder that long before smartphones and search engines, people entertained themselves by asking good questions.

Hello, most of you don't know me as I'm not on here all that often, mostly because I'm either running a math learning center or building various things to help overwhelmed parents. I've done a wide variety of things throughout my life, but always tend to come back to teaching (2 legs, 4 legs, it doesn't matter, LOL). I've noticed people (kids included) tend to always have a good reason for their behavior. They might not always understand the reason, but it's there. Recently, I started a blog (PlayEdVenture.com) and well, one thing led to another (involving a child who was hard to reach at the math center, a couple of conversations with her father and a late night talk with ChatGPT) and I figured out I can finally create the tool I've been wanting to create for years. I'd already shared the 'lite' version here (my GPT) but I'm also working on a more robust free-standing tool - the Resistance Reset Coach™ App. No need for an account with any AI tool needed and while the premise is the same as the GPT, it also allows parents to do things like save conversations, print them off and, probably most importantly, continue the conversation.... how did the advice work? Based on that feedback, the tool refines suggestions. At this time, anything saved, is saved only to your device so no one else has access to it but you can go back to it later and sometimes, if relevant, saved conversations might be referenced by the tool. Books are great, courses are great, but time is often at a premium and the reason I have developed this tool is to give parents a way to get advice in the moment. I've done quite a bit of testing on my own, but my son is nearly 30 and what I need is some real life testing... real parents (or grandparents) with real kids. Do the suggestions work? Do they make sense? If you try out the tool, it is yours to keep using (if you like it) as my way of thanking you for helping me move this project forward. :) Thanks for considering!

Thank you for believing in my vision. Let’s extend a warm welcome to our newest members @Charlotte Bick @Cam Parkes @Wendy Venema @Paula Artis and @Sandy Chong Charlotte is my real life assistant and she’s helping me organize the classrooms. She also has years of homeschool experience and I’m glad she agreed to help me here. Cam is new and runs an RPG community. I’ve asked him to schedule a game play session so so let us know if you’re interested. Thinking of you @Gus Gray @Daniel Cavaretta @Evelene Sterling @Michelle Fuentes as you were interested in our last live game night. Wendy has a mom’s group that some of you might be interested in and Paula is offering an AI camp for kids in June. Sandy and I know each other from Crust and Crumb Academy. A few days ago, she shared her dough was looking at her and I used that idea and her picture to create this welcome video. Enjoy and take a minute to introduce yourself. Then pop over to #Welcome to Connected Through Play to see how the community works.