I love simple recipes that children can help with at snack time. Here’s another favorite to add to that stash: Fruit Dip!
Here are the players:
Who Doesn’t Love an Orange Smoothie?
Who Doesn't Love an Orange Smoothie?
Pouring Preschoolers
Here’s a little secret: Preschoolers can pour their own drinks. It’s true! The children gain so much independence and self-confidence by learning this self-help skill. Autonomy is something children crave at this age, and this is certainly an activity they can do on their own when appropriate parameters are set.
First of all, I use a small pitcher that they can easily lift and control. I use these little, plastic, liquid measuring cups that I picked up at the Wally Mart, and have my little ones pour their own water at snack time. I love that these are see-through so the children can watch as they and others pour (and the fact that they are extremely cheap and readily available is nice too).
Seed Snack Time!
While you’re exploring the topic of seeds, you might as well have yourself some fruit snacks. No, not the gummy imitation of fruit my children try to count as one of the four food groups, but actual fruit, for snacks. Instead of quickly doling out fruit slices on each child’s plate, turn snack time into science time. Take some time to examine and talk about a few fruits and their seeds.
Select a few fruits with different sized seeds: small (strawberries, kiwis), medium (apples, oranges, watermelon), large (peaches, nectarines, mangoes). Hold up each fruit, one at a time, and talk about the characteristics of the fruit, how the fruit grows and where the seeds might be. As you cut up the fruit, isolate the seeds and pass them around for the children to look at (include magnifiers if you like). Compare the sizes of the different seeds, even sort them into groups of small, medium, and large if you’ve used several samples.
Baked Doughnuts-Fit for a Parade
Ahh, doughnuts. Few treats get children so excited! I’m personally not a fan of deep fat frying. My body doesn’t react well to the smell and when I eat it much my stomach feels unsettled. That, and my hips and thighs swell in a strange sort of allergic reaction. At any rate, when I’m the cook at the wheel, I prefer this healthier recipe for baked doughnuts. If you want to, have your little chefs assist you through the entire recipe. It’s not too difficult, and those little hands always get a kick out of kneading and rolling. Observing first hand the effect of yeast is a science project in itself. And since these are baked, not fried, they’re not only healthier, but you also have a little less to worry about in the burn department. As another option, you can have the doughnuts ready, and just let the children help with the topping. Either way, this cooking activity is sure to excite your little ones as they personalize each doughnut. Turn it into a literacy activity by reading a good book like The Great Doughnut Parade beforehand, or while the dough rises!
Here’s the to-do and to-what list:
Caramel Popcorn….It’s in the bag!
Photo by bgraphic.
Cooking is a great activity to do with kids! There are plenty of ways children can help with almost any recipe, but some recipes just lend themselves to increased interest and participation from your little culinary artists. This is one of them! Caramel popcorn… in a bag… in the microwave! It’s almost magical!
(*As with any recipe be sure to know the limits of your children and your facility’s policies for safety if applicable. Popcorn in particular may not be suitable for certain children or allowed in specific programs.)
Caramel Popcorn….It's in the bag!
Photo by bgraphic.
Cooking is a great activity to do with kids! There are plenty of ways children can help with almost any recipe, but some recipes just lend themselves to increased interest and participation from your little culinary artists. This is one of them! Caramel popcorn… in a bag… in the microwave! It’s almost magical!
(*As with any recipe be sure to know the limits of your children and your facility’s policies for safety if applicable. Popcorn in particular may not be suitable for certain children or allowed in specific programs.)
Book Activity: Mmm, Cookies!
This fantastically fun read is by one of my favorite authors, Robert Munsch. He began as a storyteller who always knew how to get and keep a child’s attention, and was later convinced to put his stories into print. This silly tale follows a little boy through his mischief as he makes pretend cookies out of playdough and serves them to his unsuspecting family and friends. It’s sure to grab the interest young children as they join in the repetitive text and absorb the outrageous illustrations of the characters’ outlandish reactions to eating playdough.
Each time Christopher makes a new cookie, this book implements a fantastic use of onomatopoeia with a repetitive text that just begs for kids to join in. Here’s how I do it (words in italics from the text):
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