Thursday Thirteen - 13 Foods Children Can Make & Learn About Cookbooks
July 3, 2008 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
Most youngsters like to cook and starting them out with simple foods can be enjoyable. Often when kids cook, they’ll eat better.
My mother let us start cooking when we were young. By six years old, I was preparing complete meals. I have a picture of my daughter, age 2 years old, stirring cookie dough.
Reading cookbooks often proves enjoyable and enables youngsters to recognize new words, follow directions, and learn about nutrition. You’ll find many these days written “just for kids.”
Here are some simple foods children can make.
( If they require any cooking or the use of knives, make sure you’re helping or they are old enough to know cooking safety. )
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
- Ham or bologna and cheese sandwiches
- Hot dogs and buns
- English muffin pizzas
- Cinnamon toast
- Lunchables - cheese, crackers, bologna/ham/turkey
- Carrot and celery sticks with peanut butter or cream cheese
- Fruit and berries with dip
- Tossed salad…easy to make with the bags of greens; but kids can tear greens, too.
- Scrambled eggs; these can be made in the microwave, too.
- Ice Cream Sandwiches with cookies (chocolate chip, sugar, grahams, etc.)
- S’mores made in the microwave; with more adult supervision, over the grill or campfire
- Fruit smoothies
What do your youngsters cook? What are their favorite cookbooks?
What are your tips for cooking safety?
(Amazon image)
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
I have a nephew who loves to cook, but he always wants to create something different. He’s 4.
When I taught grade school, cooking was a very important part of my math curriculum. We cooked at least once a week.
My students were whizzes at fractions (which most kids find difficult to grasp) because of all the measuring they did while following recipes.
The most fun unit we did was on ethnic foods. Each student had to bring a family favorite ethnic recipe and show the class how to prepare it.
Would you believe one 11 year-old boy taught us to make baklava?!
Thanks for sharing, Eileen, about incorporating cooking into math to teach your students fractions. What a fun way to do it and to help them to realize the practical application of fractions and math.