What’s Cooking? - Day Two—Chez Yum Yum
Each remaining day, we will transform the classroom into a different restaurant. The food will reflect it’s environment. The first day, we are going to a fancy French Restaurant called Chez Yum Yum. So, wear your beret, fancy silk scarf, and snooty looking dress and greet the children with your best French accent.
Circle Time Ideas
Good Book
Froggy Eats Out
By Jonathan London
In this story, Froggy goes to a fancy restaurant for his parent’s anniversary. His parents tell him,” Be neat. Be quiet. No feet on the table.” But Froggy isn’t used to eating at such a fancy place. He chews on the sugar cubes, crunches on ice, flips his spoon into the air and eventually sends his meal across the room. Ask the children, “Have you ever eaten in a fancy restaurant? Was it hard to behave? What were the rules? Were the rules different from the rules at a hamburger joint?”
Just for fun!
Spoon Flipping
Show the children how to make a spoon flip through the air like Froggy did. Place the spoon on its’ back (food holding side up) Position the spoon so that it’s head is closest to the middle of the circle. Hit the tip of the spoon with your finger. That’s it. The spoon will go flying. Put a large bowl into the middle on the circle and give each child 5 plastic spoons. Let them try flipping their spoons into the large bowl. Encourage them to keep trying until they get one in.
Very Funny Book
Dirty Bertie
By David Roberts
A Song About Manners
(Sung to the tune of “I’ve been working on the Railroad”)
It would be fun to have a frog puppet sing the following song with the children. He can pretend to be Froggy. Have Froggy tell the children that he always has a hard time sitting still at the dinner table. So he wrote a song about one of those times. If you don’t have a frog puppet, use any puppet.
| Verse One I’ve been sitting at the table Almost all day long. I’ve been sitting at the table Trying to think what I done wrong. I can’t help it if I sneezed Or forgot to tell you please. Sorry when I picked my nose. Mommy can’t I go. Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go and play, play, play. Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go! I’ve been sitting here all day. |
Verse Two I’ve been sitting at the table Almost all day long. I’ve been sitting at the table Trying to think what I done wrong. I didn’t mean to flip my tators Or mix my milk with peas. Sorry when I licked my toe Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go and play, play, play! Mommy can’t I go! Mommy can’t I go! I’ve been sitting here all day |
Messy Table
Cooking Techniques-Sifting
Today, we will learn the fine art of sifting. Bring three or four sifters to the messy table and provide flour. The children will enjoy using all different kinds of sifters. Maybe, they can sift a variety of dry ingredients together. Save the flour for a future messy table activity because we will not be using the flour to cook.
Cut & Color Table
Fancy Flower Arrangements
Things you will need:
- Multi-colored tissue paper cut into 3x5 rectangles
- Multi-colored pipe cleaners
Creative Art
Fancy, Flower Vases
Each child should bring a small, glass jar from home. This can be a baby food jar, pickle jar, jelly jar or any other glass jar. Provide the children with tissue paper squares in a variety of colors, (2x2) and liquid starch. Show them how to place a tissue square onto the bottle and then paint over the tissue with starch. As they overlap colors, the bottle will begin to look like stained glass. Leave the vases outside so they will dry in time for our fancy feast.
Good Book
The Little Red Hen
By Paul Galdone
Read the traditional tale of, The Little Red Hen. Before you begin, invite four children to come to the front to dramatize the story as it is read. You will need the following story props for this story. One child can hold the hen puppet. The second child can wear a dog collar. The third child can wear cat ears. And the fourth child can wear an orange beak made from a snow cone cup. As the hen asks each friend if they will help with the chores, each friends says, “Not I” in his best dog, cat or goose voice. When the story is over, bring all of the homemade bread ingredients to the cooking center and bake some bread. It might be best to make a quick bread instead of a bread that will need to rise. Serve the bread at the Snooty Salad Bar in your fancy French restaurant.
The Cooking Center
Snooty Salad Bar
Every snooty, fancy French restaurant has a snooty, fancy French salad bar. (Don’t take my word for this) At the cooking center, put the children in charge of washing, chopping, shredding and slicing all kinds of different fruits and vegetables. Don’t forget to make fancy watermelon balls and rosette radishes. (Look online for other fancy fruit and vegetable art) When you set up “Chez Yum Yum”, the salad should be displayed on exquisite dishes and platters. The children will eat with real silverware and they will practice their manners by first tucking their cloth napkins under their collars. Don’t forget to set the tables up before the children arrive with white table cloths, fancy, snooty flower vases and lovely “mommy” glassware. Serve bread with butter patties and salad and remind them to “Be neat. Be Quiet. Keep your feet off the table.”
Outside
Posture Races
Everybody knows that good manners and good posture go hand in hand. So, put a book on your head and show the children how to walk from here to there without letting the book fall to the ground. After they have had a chance to practice, put orange cones or markers at the far end of the yard and let them see how fast they can walk around the cones and return to the starting line. Use a stop watch to record their times. Instead of racing against each other, encourage the children to try and better their own times each time they race.
A Good Book
Sheep Out to Eat
By Nancy Shaw
