Cooking and Baking

Cooking and Baking

Fairy Snacks: Fairy Fruit Magic Wands and Fairy Berry Smoothies

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Fairy snacks are fun and easy to make with fruit. We made fairy magic wands and fairy berry smoothies too. They are nutritious and yummy to eat.fairy fruit snacks

Fairy fruit magic wands can use almost any fruit you have at home. After washing our hands so we couldn’t taste any fingers, Big Brother helped slice a banana while I topped some strawberries.fairy fruit snacks

Together we made one magic wand with strawberry, banana, and pineapple chunks on a skewer. We put them on in a pattern: strawberry, pineapple, banana/strawberry, pineapple, banana. Then, Big Brother made his own. He chose to use only strawberries and bananas and, for the most part, put them on in a pattern too.fairy fruit snacks

Patterning is an important thinking skill. It helps reduce the volume of information so, whenever possible, we play with pattern sequences. Kids need lots and lots of experiences to figure out how patterns work. After making the fairy fruit magic wands, we slid the fruit back off the skewers and ate them up.

Berry and fairy sound almost the same. To make the smoothies, we used raspberries and strawberries. Blackberries aren’t ready yet here but they would be good too. So would blueberries. After washing hands and fruit we added them to the blender with some yogurt and a bit of honey. Blend until smooth, pour into cups, and slurp with straws.

fairy berry smoothie

Cooking with kids encourages more skills than patterning and rhyming words. There’s following instructions, doing steps in order, basic science, special language, measuring, counting, comparing, and others. When children are involved with food preparation, they are more aware of what they are eating and more open to trying new foods. They develop a partnership with foods instead of only consuming them. Being part of the preparation and the clean-up also promotes a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. We all enjoy being part of the group, kids included. They feel they are able to contribute to the family too.fairy fruit snacks

These fairy snacks were easy and healthy. Magic wands weren’t needed for taste, but added to the fun. Any kitchen fairies at your house?

For more fairy fun, from snacks to science to stories to songs, visit the plays-of-the-day on 123kindergarten blog.

 

Cooking and Baking

Kids Nutritious Valentine Chocolate Treats – Yummy and Sensory

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When it comes to treats, chocolate often tops the list. Would these kids nutritious valentine chocolate treats appeal to anyone at your house?

Girl Enjoying Chocolate Milk

Food appeals to kids for more than taste. They also like the way food feels and we’ve all seen little ones get hands-on and in with what they are eating. A smoothie not only goes down smooth, hands get to make it that way. **Before peeling a banana, let your little one roll and squeeze it. They can’t do it too hard or the banana will split open, but they should be able to start making the banana mushy. Open it into a big measuring cup and continue smooshing. We added a bit of chocolate milk and some yogurt and stirred that in too. A quick whip with the hand blender made it creamy and smooth. This is easy to adapt if your child has any food sensitivity issues. The banana adds the sweetness and smoothness to practically any liquid.

kids nutritious chocolate treat

As well as to the senses of taste and touch, food includes the sense of sight. Kids respond to the colors and shapes of food. Let kids pick out three or four, or even more, of their favorite fruits. Besides bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, and grapes go with chocolate. Kids can help with the preparation. Wash the fruits and slice into pieces. With a plastic picnic knife, kids can slice the bananas and grapes. Bigger hands might need to do the apples and grapes. Use some chocolate milk or melted chocolate with some yogurt to make a dip. With fingers or forks kids dip the fruit pieces into the chocolate ‘mud’. Despite the name, it’s yummy.

kids valentine chocolate treat

Kids like to help and involving them in the kitchen encourages a healthy relationship to food. They are also very sensory and hands-on. These kids nutritious valentine chocolate treats definitely include the senses and hands. What treats do you and your child make for Valentine’s Day?

 

Cooking and Baking

Halloween Carrots Hummus Snack – Nutritious, Colorful, and Fun

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Carrots + Dip = Pumpkin Patch

Halloween has wonderful treats, but they can still be nutritious like this Halloween carrots hummus snack. As a trick, the good kind, this one is also fun.

Halloween carrots hummus snack

Finger foods and dips are popular with kids. It’s like combining eating and playing with food. Kids also like to help in the kitchen. They feel like part of the team and get a sense of accomplishment. Involving them in cooking also creates a positive attitude towards food and encourages them to make good food choices.

This dip is easy and uses readily available ingredients. We started with a can of chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans. Maybe they have a split personality, but they will certainly have a mashed one. Drain them first and then empty the can into a flat bowl. It’s easier for kids to mash the chick peas in a shallow or flat bowl. At our house, the kids don’t like it with too much lemon so after rolling a lemon around on the counter to make it soft and juicing it, we only stir in 1 or 2 spoons of juice.

When we have tahini or sesame seed paste we add it. When we don’t, we use some other nut butter. Fortunately there are no peanut allergies so we are okay with that. To make it nice and smooth, mix in a spoon or so of olive oil. A sprinkle of cumin adds a bit more flavor to the mild taste. Many people like garlic but that sometimes makes ‘monster breath’ so we omit this.

Instead of a Halloween carrots hummus snack, you can use black bean dip. (see our carrots in the garden from the spring) This dip is even easier and makes for a darker dirt.

carrot black bean dip snack

While little hands are mixing, big hands can cut a carrot into circles. These are the pumpkins. For color, stick a toothpick through something green, like parsley, celery leaves, or small pieces of lettuce. Carefully stick the toothpick into the edge of the carrot circle. Don’t these look like pumpkins?

Spoon the hummus into a bowl to be the dirt. Set the pumpkins upright like they are growing in the pumpkin patch. Sprinkle on bits of lettuce, cilantro, parsley, or celery leaves for the leaves and vines. What fun to dip and munch. Do you know any kid-monsters that can eat a whole pumpkin patch?

Cooking and Baking

Space Activities #22: Space Snack Fun – Cooking with Kids

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These couple of nutritious and playful ideas for some space snack fun do not need a lot of space in your kitchen, just some imagination and creativity. Nut Butter Planet Wraps: To make these planet wraps, you can use either pita bread, tortillas, or another kind of wrap. Put a spoonful of peanut or other … Continue reading Space Activities #22: Space Snack Fun – Cooking with Kids →

Cooking and Baking

Transportation Activities#18: Traffic Light Smoothie

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Sensory play is very important for kids including taste and smell as well as seeing, hearing, and touching which they can do with a Traffic Light Smoothie. Safety is important too, so parents and caregivers tell kids about red lights and stop signs. They are pretty familiar with traffic lights. Traffic lights are red, yellow, … Continue reading Transportation Activities#18: Traffic Light Smoothie →

Cooking and Baking

Cooking with Kids – Bubble Cake aka Puddle Cake

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Playing, having fun, and learning can all happen at the same time. 1 2 3. This bubble cake combines more than ingredients. It’s easy for cooking with kids. There’s hardly anything to wash up since you mix it and cook it in the same pan. Sometimes, this Bubble Cake is known by another name, Puddle … Continue reading Cooking with Kids – Bubble Cake aka Puddle Cake →

Cooking and Baking

Star Wars Tortilla Planets – Breakfast Or Dessert

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There are dozens and dozens of ideas for Star Wars foods, but this is one of the tastiest, Star Wars Tortilla Planets, so nutritious they can be breakfast and so good they can be dessert. Thanks to Heather Tallman, at Basilmomma for these. Don’t they look delicious? Place two tortillas on a cookie sheet, (lined … Continue reading Star Wars Tortilla Planets – Breakfast Or Dessert →

Cooking and Baking

Christmas Cooking with Kids

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Tech support will delete your cookies and so will kids. For a play-of-the-day, tie on an apron for Christmas cooking with kids. At this time of year, many families are making holiday favorites. While some make cookies, others are kneading the dough for cinnamon buns, rolling out pyrogies, decorating Yule logs, wrapping up tamales, cutting … Continue reading Christmas Cooking with Kids →

Cooking and Baking

October Alphabet: K is for Kitchen Fun with Kids

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Not just October, but anytime of the year is great for some kitchen fun with kids. And learning too. We can easily cook up both. Involving kids in the kitchen has  some immediate as well as long-term benefits. Sometimes, as a child, it seems like adults get to have all the fun. We might think … Continue reading October Alphabet: K is for Kitchen Fun with Kids →