Today I taught my last preschool lesson for the year. My theme was food and I turned my preschoolers into little chefs. They were so cute!
We started off talking about the food pyramid. On Tuesday I had them put pictures of food that I had cut out of grocery store ads into labeled boxes that served as my food groups. The biggest box was the grain box (since kids need 5 servings of those), then I had three medium sized boxes for vegetable, fruits, and dairy products. Then I had a small box for protein, and an even smaller box for fats/oils. After the kids had separated all the "food" into the correct boxes, we piled them into a pyramid. Then they colored pictures of food pyramids. Today I had them make food pyramid collages. They had to pick 5 pictures of grains, 3 of vegetables, 2 fruits, 3 dairy, 1 protein and 1 fat (like cookies or french fries) and then they glued the pictures into the correctly labeled box. I think after today they have the basic concept...or at least the word "food pyramid" is ingrained in their little heads!
I also had them put together cookbooks. I printed up kid-friendly recipes on cardstock, then the kids put stickers on the backs of them to help them remember what they were. They were all curious as to what recipes were going in their cookbooks, so we had a lengthy discussion about all the recipes and what went in them and how you were supposed to make them. After preschool that day I laminated them, punched a hole in them and stuck a ring in them to keep them together. The kids LOVED them!
Of course you can't have a lesson about food without actually making some. But before we could cook we talked about different kitchen utensils and what they were used for (a whisk, measuring spoons and cups, tongs, a potato masher, a mixing bowl, a cheese grater, etc.) We also learned that the first rule of cooking was to WASH THOSE HANDS!!!
On Tuesday we made letter pretzels. They were a huge hit. The kids were so proud of their culinary creations once they came out of the oven.
On Thursday we made banana sushi and fruit kabobs. I found the banana sushi recipe on Rachael Ray's kid website and thought it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, so we had to make it!
We started off talking about the food pyramid. On Tuesday I had them put pictures of food that I had cut out of grocery store ads into labeled boxes that served as my food groups. The biggest box was the grain box (since kids need 5 servings of those), then I had three medium sized boxes for vegetable, fruits, and dairy products. Then I had a small box for protein, and an even smaller box for fats/oils. After the kids had separated all the "food" into the correct boxes, we piled them into a pyramid. Then they colored pictures of food pyramids. Today I had them make food pyramid collages. They had to pick 5 pictures of grains, 3 of vegetables, 2 fruits, 3 dairy, 1 protein and 1 fat (like cookies or french fries) and then they glued the pictures into the correctly labeled box. I think after today they have the basic concept...or at least the word "food pyramid" is ingrained in their little heads!
I also had them put together cookbooks. I printed up kid-friendly recipes on cardstock, then the kids put stickers on the backs of them to help them remember what they were. They were all curious as to what recipes were going in their cookbooks, so we had a lengthy discussion about all the recipes and what went in them and how you were supposed to make them. After preschool that day I laminated them, punched a hole in them and stuck a ring in them to keep them together. The kids LOVED them!
Of course you can't have a lesson about food without actually making some. But before we could cook we talked about different kitchen utensils and what they were used for (a whisk, measuring spoons and cups, tongs, a potato masher, a mixing bowl, a cheese grater, etc.) We also learned that the first rule of cooking was to WASH THOSE HANDS!!!
On Tuesday we made letter pretzels. They were a huge hit. The kids were so proud of their culinary creations once they came out of the oven.
On Thursday we made banana sushi and fruit kabobs. I found the banana sushi recipe on Rachael Ray's kid website and thought it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, so we had to make it!
We also made fruit kabobs today. I had each kid bring a different fruit, then we cut them up (well, I did most of the cutting) and stuck them on skewers!
By the end of our cooking demonstration, this is what my kitchen looked like.
But it was well worth it, the kids had such a fun time!
The following recipes I included in the kids cookbooks and can be viewed at E's Recipe Corner.
Banana Sushi
Bottom-of-the-Box Cereal Sundae
Dinosaur Punch
Peanut Butter Play-Doh
Cheesy Breadsticks
Fruit Kabobs
Fruit Pizza
Tostada Faces
Letter Pretzels (found in the archives under "kiddies")
Frozen Bananas
Creamy Salsa Dip & Veggies
By the end of our cooking demonstration, this is what my kitchen looked like.
But it was well worth it, the kids had such a fun time!The following recipes I included in the kids cookbooks and can be viewed at E's Recipe Corner.
Banana Sushi
Bottom-of-the-Box Cereal Sundae
Dinosaur Punch
Peanut Butter Play-Doh
Cheesy Breadsticks
Fruit Kabobs
Fruit Pizza
Tostada Faces
Letter Pretzels (found in the archives under "kiddies")
Frozen Bananas
Creamy Salsa Dip & Veggies
9 comments:
How fun! Banana sushi is a brilliant idea. I'm a huge fan of any dish with the word "banana" in it.
Cute ideas! How fun to live in an area where you can have a preschool co-op. Thanks for sharing your ideas and recipes!
My boys LOVED LOVED LOVED it! They had such a fun time and are begging me to make Dinosaur Punch today! ;) I laughed at your kitchen picture!
cute ideas! We might have to try out some of those ideas(banana sushi and pretzel letters). I think Dax would love them. He loves to help me in the kitchen.
what a great teacher you are...you should do that for a living...hmmmmm!!! tee hee
You are so creative! Looks like lots of fun.
In a couple years I'm going to hunt you down and tell me where you get all your preschool ideas. Or you can tell me know and I'll bookmark them. :-) Thanks!
Wow! What wonderful ideas for cooking with kids. I love the banana sushi. You always have the BEST preshool ideas!! And the kids have all grown up over the last few years. Good for you for sticking with it!!
Kay/grandma
You are too cool. What great ideas. I'm going to steal them, ok.?
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