The kids in rooms 1 and 2 read the book Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie de Paola....
actually they didn't read it they told the story. You see this is a picture book about a woman who wakes up and wants pancakes for breakfast. She finds that she doesn't have all of the ingredients so she goes to get them. We asked the kids to tell us the story after looking at the pictures.The rest of the kiddos read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff.
They all made a fabulous breakfast magnet for your fridge complete with eggs, bacon and PANCAKES!!! We hope that it will make you smile when you see it.
Today I thought I would talk to you about cooking with the kids. Yes, I know that it is sometimes more hassle than fun but there are so many skills that they gain by spending time helping you in the kitchen.
Math skills, confidence, spacial recognition, and an increased desire to try different foods are all good things that come from cooking with kids. The biggest drawbacks are safety issues and an increase in clean-up-- but these are minor when you look at all they get out of it!
I have several cookbooks for little ones that I love!
Paula Deen's My First Cookbook is colorful, easy to read and simple to follow. The only problem is that all of the pictures are hand drawn, so yours won't look quite like the pictures.
For those Sesame Street fans out there we have Big Block Party. It is a storybook with recipes in the end. The best thing about this book is that you can prepare the food then read the book and eat along with the story! I don't know of any kid who wouldn't want to eat Oscar's Delicious Cups of Dirt!
The Toddler Cookbook is designed just for 3 and 4 year olds. They have pictures for each step of the recipe with real-life kid chefs cooking the recipes. The recipes are simple with very few ingredients and many of them are very healthful. It is written by Annabel Karmel and she has an amazing website with videos and other kid/food information.
My last reccomendation is Kid Favorites Made Healthy. This is a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with over 150 recipes that kids love. Libi and I recently made the banana bread and it was gone in a flash-- very yummy! Many of the recipes have pictures, but the best feature of this book is the nutritional information for every recipe-- great if you are doing Weight Watchers or counting calories!
I hope these ideas have inspired you to get in the kitchen with the kids. I know you will make yummy recipes and lasting memories together!
