We’re doing Kids in the Kitchen this week at The Children’s House!! All activities based around the fact that your children are probably very enthusiastic to help you out in the kitchen, so why not put that energy to good use?! We’ve got some straight forward recipes to try, art activities to do, science experiments…
To start, you can try the simplest of recipes to great success with children, using (mostly!) healthy recipes – cut water melon into triangles, deseed, & freeze for water melon pops; make ham & cheese wraps by simply cutting or grating the cheese onto the ham & wrapping the ham around the cheese; fill muffin holders with yogurt & berries, then freeze – add mashed banana, cinnamon, pistachios for variation!
Make fruit & spinach smoothies using any fruit you like with a little natural yoghurt; create delicious pizzas using just 1 cup each of Greek yoghurt & self-raising flour for a delicious dough base with any toppings you like; cut carrots, courgettes, celery, cucumber, peppers into healthy sticks & dip into cream cheese or hummus for a tasty snack; cook onions, veg & stock to make vegetable soup – all perfect to get little helpers involved in!
Why not try some art using kitchen utensils – set out paint on paper plates/ trays & let your child use spatulas, mashers, whisks etc to make amazing abstract designs! Then to make sure your child looks the part, why not make a chef’s hat with them? https://www.redtedart.com/paper-chefs-hat-diy-instructions/ Wrap a hair tie around a kitchen sponge & use it to sponge paint & make beautiful patterns… Make pasta bracelets or necklaces – just paint & decorate pasta shapes, thread onto string & voila! Another great art activity is to do fruit or vegetable stamping – cut apples, peppers, broccoli florets, celery sticks or potatoes in half, then paint & stamp to create geometric patterns – decorate old plain t shirts or pillow cases!! Alternatively, if like me you have a certain amount of used wine corks floating around your kitchen, you can carve little designs into the tops & let your child use them as stamps. Or save up your egg boxes, cut out the individual egg cups, paint them & lace onto string to make a beautiful flower garland.
Many of the activities we suggested for science week were based on what you find in your kitchen, & you might find a few more good ideas for science experiments here https://modernparentsmessykids.com/stem-20-kitchen-science-experiments-kids-will-love/
Don’t forget the importance of food hygiene, & to emphasise that hand washing is essential before any cooking activities!
Our song this week is Apples & Bananas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5WLXZspD1M
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.
Now let’s make a long “a” sound – ay-ples and ba-nay-nays; I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays, I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays.
Let’s try a long “e” sound… ee-ples and ba-nee-nees: I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and ba-nee-nees, I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and ba-nee-nees.
How about a long “i” sound… i-ples and ba-nigh-nighs: I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and ba-nigh-nighs, I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and ba-nigh-nighs.
Great, let’s sing it with a long “o” sound…oh-ples and ba-no-nos: I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and ba-no-nos, I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and ba-no-nos.
I know let’s make an “oo” sound…oo-ples and ba-noo-noos: I like to oot, oot, oot, oopples and ba-noo-noos, I like to oot, oot, oot, oopples and ba-noo-noos.
Last one…apples and bananas! I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas, I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.