What’s cooking? - Day Five—The Sweet Shoppe
My favorite kind of restaurant is the kind that sells nothing but sweets. Candies, donuts, cakes, pies, pastry, ice cream and sweet coffees. Is your mouth watering yet? Well it will be. Decorate the room with balloons and streamers. We are going to have a party in our mouths.
Circle Time Ideas
Good Book
Cook-A-Doodle-Doo
By Janet Stevens
This is one of my favorite books! In this story, The Little Red Hen’s great, grandson, Brown Rooster is sick and tired of birdseed. He pulls out his great grandmother’s cookbook and finds a recipe for “Great-Granny’s Magnificent Strawberry Shortcake.” This “Little Red Hen-like story is very different from the rest. When the dog, the cat and the goose refuse to help, Iguana, Turtle and Pot Bellied Pig volunteer. I suggest that you read the story twice. The first time, really let the children look at the wonderful pictures. The second time, make the shortcake along with the story. It would be great if you had the following story props with you so that the children could dramatize the story as you perform each step in the recipe. As you add each ingredient, the children will probably remember what Iguana did wrong and want to act it out. Bake the shortcake and bring it with you to the cooking center.
Story Props
A pot (Turtle wears a cooking pot on his head)
A kitchen towel (Pig wear a towel like a turban)
An oven mitt (Iguana wears an oven mitt on his head)
A flower (Iguana mistakes flour for a flower)
A ruler (Iguana thinks he measures flour with a ruler)
A stick (Iguana hears “stick” instead of stick of butter)
Scissors (Iguana tries to cut the butter with scissors instead of using a pastry blender)
Baseball Bat (Iguana tries to beat the egg with a bat)
A saw (Iguana thinks he needs to saw off 1/3 of the cup of milk)
What’s Missing?
Fill a tray with a sample of each of the ingredients for shortcake. This is an exercise in memory. Give the children one minute to study the tray and then cover it with a towel. While the tray is covered, remove one of the ingredients. Then, remove the towel and let them guess what is missing. They will naturally go through the story in their minds as they study the tray. When they have guessed what’s missing, put the item back and try again.
Messy Table
How Much? How Many?
Measurements must be precise when cooking. Show the children all of the different sizes of measuring cups and spoons. Fill two large tubs with water and show the children how to measure using the lines on the sides of a measuring cup. Let them experiment with different measurements and give them problems to solve. Ask, “How many of these 1/2 cups will fit into this 1 cup?” Encourage them to try some measuring themselves.
Cut & Color Table
Sorting Candies
I know! I know! Candy and cake are unhealthy! If you need to, have them sort nuts. But candy goes better with the theme!! Sort five different kinds of candy into five different bowls. I would probably make the rule that nobody eats candy until all of the candy is sorted. Then, each child can grab a fistful. The following candies are very similar and will make sorting more of a cognitive task. They will really have to look closely at the shapes, sizes and colors to sort the candies properly.
Good candies to sort:
- M&Ms plain™
- M&Ms Peanut™
- Skittles™
- Reese's Pieces™
- Boston Baked beans™
Creative Art
Strawberry Basket Prints
Things you will need:
- Six strawberry baskets
- Red paint
- Green paint
- Large sheets of white paper
The Cooking Center
Slicing Strawberries/Whipping Cream
The shortcake should be finished baking and on the cooking center table. Invite the children to slice the strawberries into bite-sized pieces and remove the leaves. When they have finished, wash the strawberries one final time. Pour whipping cream into a large bowl and let the children take turns whipping it with an electric beater. As they beat the cream, it will begin to thicken and firm. When the cream has frothy peaks, add powdered sugar and continue to blend until the whipping cream is sweet. Bring the Cook-A-Doodle-Doo book to the cooking center table and recreate the shortcake you see on the cover with the help of the children. Invite everybody to share in the masterpiece even if they refused to help. It’s a good thing that Iguana and Pot Bellied Pig are nowhere in sight!!
Another Good Book
The Little Mouse, The Red, Ripe Strawberry and the Very Hungry Bear
By Don and Audrey Wood
Read this story and then pass out a strawberry to each child. Tell the children that the big, hungry bear is going to get their red, ripe strawberry so they better cut it in half and share it with a friend. This will help them with the concept of 1/2.
Outside
Food Tag
The teacher is always “IT” when playing tag. The children run around the yard while the teacher counts to ten. After counting, the teacher is clear to tag whoever she can catch. If a child is in danger of being tagged, he has the option of sitting down very fast and saying the name of a dessert he loves. If the teacher tags the child before he can blurt out the name of a dessert he is frozen until a friend can touch him and set him free. Play until the teacher cannot breath anymore.
