Book-based cooking lesson plans. Many children's book includes some mention of food and we'll use those as springboards for literature-based recipes. Some examples include my grandson Emmett's favorite character "Pete the Cat." (Emmett is the cutie with the spaghetti smile <-----) Pete makes a sandwich in one so a simple tie-in would be to make a sandwich, like Pete's. And my grandson Lucian likes the Blueberries for Sal cookbook. So of course, we'd use that to whip up some blueberry-themed treats.
Kids' cooking challenges. I wrote some lesson plans for my down south grandchildren and every unit involves some cooking. Our favorites are the cooking challenges. Over the summer they were challenged to come up with new recipes using their garden produce. In another, they had to create a recipe using five ingredients hidden in a box. In yet another, they had to invent a "not boring" soup after reading "Mystery in the Night Woods" which featured some animals who were tired of soup. Granddaugher Lola's personal favorite is the mystery ingredient challenge in which a regular recipe is tweaked with a secret ingredient and everyone else has to figure out what it is. Here are free printable kids' cooking challenges and activities.
Reluctant reader, reluctant eater lesson plans. These lesson plans are designed to make both reading and eating, more palatable, and to encourage picky eaters to try new foods. Of course "Gregory the Terrible Eater" is a great resource to use. And to follow up, have children create a new food buffet. Vegetables are the place to start since they are usually the least favorite. And what child can resist a beautifully arranged veggie tray, that he himself helped to prepare? You can ask the to taste a bite of each and then rate them on a chart. And to boost reading skills, go on a...
Library book scavenger hunt. As part of my food lesson plans, I have students work from an alphabetized list to find books on different foods. Some are easy, like "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." He ate all kinds of foods! But artichoke might be trickier. Older children can use Google Books or Bookfinder to locate their books. They don't have to necessarily physically find the book. Just locating online counts. Make a chart for them to fill in which book they found for each type of food. I found A is for Artichoke there.
Design recipe cards or a cookbook. Here is a free printable recipe binder kit from I Scream for Buttercream. Google Docs has free printable recipe cards and cookbook templates. This builds STEAM and STEM skills, as well as reading and writing.
Make a Youtube video showing yourself cooking. My grandson Moses wants to be a chef. So I'm encouraging him to make demonstration videos to share his recipes, skills and techniques. If you don't want to show your face, just show hands demonstrating the process.
Have a potluck. Ask children to bring in their favorite dishes they have made at home. These might be related to their culture of origin. Or assign children to prepare regional dishes and host an "around the world" feast. Wisconsin DPI has free printable recipes from around the world in 80 Trays. Here are more world foods recipes for kids from Baketivity.
Make a fancy dinner. Assign children to make a fancy dinner for their families and set the table. Use nice dishes, silverware and table linens as available. Dress up. Take pictures. My grandkids Milo and Juno love to have children's wine (sparkling water, NA wine) with their fancy meals. Here are some table setting coloring pages.
Create an alphabet foods coloring book. Or make a graph of foods of different colors.
Here's a way to involve the youngest learners in the cooking lesson plans. Use these free printable food group coloring pages. And still more assorted food coloring pages to print free.
For more great food lesson plans visit my blog Great Food 4U here.
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