New Orleans, Mardi Gras, Jazz Music Preschool Unit

It's the last day of February and we are fresh off the Disney blues train here at Mama's Little Homeschool. I haven't been doing  much any blogging since we left for Orlando in the first week of February but it's time to get back in the saddle because we have been up to some really fun stuff over here and it deserves to be shared!
Kind of like when Tiana shares her pot of gumbo with her neighbors in New Orleans when we watch Disney's The Princess and the Frog.
Y'all, let me just say that I'm positive in my past life I was a Southern Belle. I've never been to New Orleans but I have road tripped to Florida a handful of times - a family trip to NOLA when my boys are bigger is definitely high on the list! I feel such a strong connection when I see that Spanish moss on the trees and hear the genuine hospitality of the local people...it just brings me some sort of very special joy in my soul, I can't describe it.
Anyway, it's no secret that The Princess and the Frog became an instant favorite of mine for this reason and so many more. They say teach what you love so it only seems right that the boys and I would take a journey to NOLA from home.
It was super helpful to use our Fire Stick to stream The Princess and the Frog movie in high definition - and as much as we wanted. Sometimes we would replay the songs multiple times to dance and sing along over and over again! DG's favorite is "Goin' Down the Bayou" - he knows every word!
We learned a new recipe - I actually saw it on Facebook listed as "gumbo" so we kept calling it gumbo, but it's actually jambalaya. Good thing we took some time to research traditional New Orleans and Mardi Gras cuisine to correct ourselves.

The recipe called for Cajun seasoning but I couldn't find any at my local supermarket, so I substituted for Tabasco sauce. It was the "bees knees" as Tiana would say!

The smell of this cooking in the crock pot all day was delightful!

I mixed in thawed frozen shrimp just before serving, because the seafood department didn't have great looking fresh shrimp that day - it turned out just fine that way.

Try it yourself - here's the recipe: http://12tomatoes.com/slow-cooker-jambalaya/?utm_source=glp-12t&utm_medium=social-fb&utm_term=20170130&utm_content=video&utm_campaign=slow-cooker-jambalaya&origin=glp_12t_social_fb_video_slow-cooker-jambalaya_20170130

We also learned about the jazz music influence in New Orleans. Of course we had to take our time to watch our favorite movie several times to discuss the connection between Louis the trumpeting gator and Louis Armstrong. Learning about Louis Armstrong was another component to this lesson that tied in with our Black History Month studies - and who can resist the opportunity to listen to beautiful, upbeat jazz music while doing so?

I love to craft while listening to music, so we made these quick jazzy Mardi Gras music notes. The boys have been loving having a little bit of freedom with the safety scissors and glue. This was a nice way to create something meaningful but also abstract and uniquely creative.

The idea was to cover a classic black music note with Mardi Gras confetti.

We just used some Crayola construction paper cut into strips for the confetti.

Throwing confetti = very fun.

DG loves to practice cutting. It has not only built his fine motor skills, but I've seen his patience improve tremendously, too.

Look at those chubby little fingers at work!

This unit was a very fun way to involve and combine some really awesome themes like our favorite Disney movie, jazz music, Mardi Gras, and Black History Month. I could see this unit expanding to take a whole week next year, and maybe we'll start planning our trip to NOLA soon! :)