Fiesta Plate with thumb prints

Volunteering at young kids’ school is a very fulfilling experience. I'll put it in the same category as spending time with your nieces and nephews. You can have fun, spoil them, buy them presents, feed them candy and before the sugar rush hits, you get to go home. No need to discipline them, grade them or monitor their progress... You get the point, right?


Last month, I helped second graders type up their story so that they can illustrate them and publish their own stories. It was such a great insight and a wonderful new perspective to encounter. As I read the stories while correcting small mistakes and helping them find letters on the keyboard, I realized these kids are their own unique authors with different styles of writing. Some like to talk one on one in their stories, others indulge in smaller details of life. There were some that like to make up their own words to make it sound funny and carry the full impact. There were also some that really liked drama that used blood and scratches and falling down on the roadway with elaborate attention. Reading their stories were equally fun but if they all take up writing as their career, I already know which ones would be my favorite assuming that they don’t curb their natural style.

Speaking of volunteering for kids, Last week was the big fundraiser for kids school and I helped out with the class project. It was a chip and salsa plate that we decorated in the ‘fiesta’ theme using thumb prints and then adding a few strokes to make them look like salsa ingredients. Of course it totally depended on the same the kids printed but we had everything from garlic and spring onions to avocado and lime. Here are some shots of the plate in the making.

Tiny little thumb prints

Numbers to identify the kids



Plate finalized, just before glazing




Plate ready for auction



I hope this dish inspires you to take up a project of your own, just with the little ones or for the whole family. I also helped decorate the dinning /silent auction room for the ‘fiesta’ gathering and will share those with you too in another post.