Which cooking recipe can i involve 20 pre-schoolers in?

Question

I work in a Nursery and need to find a 'hands on' cooking activity for 3 to 5 years olds

Answer 1

i also work in a pre school and when i do cold cookery activities i get some plain biscuits like rich tea but any plain biscuits will work then make some icing sugar and buy some sweets eg strawberry laces and dolly mixture or any sweets u want to use then just make faces on the biscuits its a really simple idea but all kids love it or u could try doing something healthy like the biscuits but use crackers and instead of icing sugar use cheese spread then for the face use tomatoes for the eyes a piece of carrot for the mouth and a little piece of cucumber for the nose and small pieces of lettuce for the hair but u can also come up with simple ideas of ur own it dosent matter how simple ur ideas are all kids just love to make something they have made themselves that they are proud of hope this helps good luck it will be rewarding whatever you do

Answer 2

How much cooking do you really want to do with a bunch of pre-schoolers ?!!! I did a really cool candy recipe with my daughter many years ago when she was in preschool. It has sort of been patented by her since but I think I can still tell you how to do it.

Basically we melted down White chocolate with trail mix and cereal and spread it out onto a cookie sheet. The childreen had a great time and I was suddenly Father of the Year. They still talk about it today almost 18 years later.

You can melt any kind of chocolate down and add anything to it that makes sense.

Answer 3

When I was a helper in my daughter's kindergarten class, we made playdoh together. They helped with ingredients, I did the actual cooking. Then then kneaded it after it had cooled.

There is also a recipe for an edible playdoh (honey, powdered milk, peanut butter) that can be made without needing any heat.

Answer 4

How about design you own pizza topping? At least its savoury rather than sugar and you can use part-cooked dough bases and then they can experiment with different flavours and eat then after you've cooked them for their lunch!Think of the toppings available from a pizza restaurant-the choice is endless...

Answer 5

Coconut Ice. Made this with my children when they were small. Doesn't actually involve cooking but there is a lot of mixing. The food colouring is cochineal so you can have a white block and a pink one.

340g desiccated coconut
340g icing sugar
400g tin of condensed milk
Optional food colouring

Simple and inexpensive. Just be careful with the cochineal!!!

Answer 6

At that age try to involve "Healthy food " stay away from sugar etc...So try Fruit and a Mixed leaf salad....A high sugar content to a child with ADHD is not a good thing.... ( They can become very "Hypo" ) ....and you may well be in trouble with the child's parents..!..OK you may not have a child in your nursery with ADHD , But just in case , air on the side of caution.
Good Luck.

Answer 7

I would say lasagna,,, as long as the pasta is precooked and chilled,, and the burger/sauce is the same way, you should be all set. My 3 and 4 year olds love to help me with this, it is super hands on. They love spreading the sauce, and burger, he pasta, the mozz. cheese and even the ricotta!!! (if $ is an issue sub. cottage cheese in place of ricotta). Good luck.

Answer 8

Make yorkshire pudding batter, pre heat cooking trays and pour in sufficient mixture to cover the toddler.

Bake in a pre heated hot oven for thirty minutes for excellent "Toddler-in-the-Hole"

Answer 9

How about making bread - its very hands on and they can watch the dough rise safely.

Ask the school kitchens if they can bake the bread after the lesson and give it back to the kids on their next lesson.

Answer 10

Fruit salad is great. If you really want them using the stove cooking... making gingerbread man is great they love it. It is easy to have them making the dough. Get a cookie cutter to make the men and put it in the strove. Then have them decorate it.!.