This is a fun way to encourage children to help with food preparation. Let them take charge of preparing some of their own snacks. It will also be teaching them how to make healthy choices. There are many other benefits of putting kids to work in the kitchen. A child who has a hand in making their own snack may be more likely to eat it. It will also teach them how to handle food and serve food!

Let’s begin making our “Fun Snacks”

Trail Mix

You will need:

• Small containers or plastic bags to fill with healthy foods
• Assorted ingredients to make your own trail mix. Below are some examples but feel free to substitute with other snacks you have at home!
  • Raisins
  • Low sugar, whole-grain cereals
  • Sunflower or pumpkin seeds
  • Dried Fruits like apples, papaya, or cranberries
  • Chocolate chips
  • Nuts

Give your child a chance to have the choice of exactly what goes into the trail mix. 

Yogurt Layers

Kids love to create colorful food and yogurt is a great snack!

You will need:

• Vanilla Yogurt
• Fruits (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or any other fruits your child likes)
• A container for your creation – we recommend a clear cup so you can see how nice it looks when you’re done!

1. Spoon some vanilla yogurt into a clear bowl or cup.
2. Create a layer of fruit.
3. Repeat until your cup is almost full
4. Optional: Sprinkle a little bit of granola or a crunchy whole-grain cereal on top to add a little crunch!

Ants on a Log

There are several variations of ants on the log so you can make this snack even more fun! All these suggestions are nut-free and delicious!

1. Wash a few stalks of celery and break them up into pieces that are about three inches long. If you do not like celery you can also use a piece of banana or carrot stick as the log. 
2. Fill your celery stalk and add a topping to represent the ants. Below are a few different ideas!
   1. Fill the celery stalk with hummus and add chopped up vegetables to represent the ants. Small chunks of colorful peppers or carrots work well.
   2. Use cottage cheese to fill up the logs then top each log with bits of fruits & veggies.
   3. Fill the logs with guacamole dip and use black beans to represent the ants.

‘Til next time,

Neddie Spaghetti

Activity by Neddra English, Hardy Site

Photos from the internet

Materials Needed:

• 1 gallon Ziploc bag
• 1 quart Ziploc bag
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• ½ teaspoon vanilla 
• ⅓ cup salt 
• ice 

Directions: 

1. Pour the milk, sugar, and vanilla into the smaller quart-sized bag.
2. Fill the larger gallon-sized bag ¾ full of ice, then add the salt to the ice.
3. Place the smaller bag inside the larger bag and close the seal; make sure you close them both tightly!
4. Now shake the bag good and hard for 5 minutes.
5. Rinse the small bag off with cold water before opening up to keep the salt water from getting into your ice cream.
6. Enjoy!

Activity by John Bradley, Floating Teacher
Recipe Source: www.food.com

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup uncooked grain porridge cereal (e.g. Red River Cereal)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 4 cups of buttermilk

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 1 bread pan and 1 muffin tin.
2. In a very large bowl: mix white flour, whole wheat flour, grain cereal, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
3. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in buttermilk.
4. Mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated. (The batter is pretty wet. More like muffin batter.)
5. Fill the muffin tins with batter and a bread pan with the remaining batter.
6. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes and the loaf of bread for 55-60 minutes. 

• the juice of 2 lemons (1/2 cup lemon juice)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/3 cup sugar
  • add ice cubes to chill

This recipe incorporates many senses, like smell, touch, and of course taste. Squeezing the juice from lemons is a great sensory exercise for the Yellow Room children to utilize their strong muscles and fine motor coordination while pinching the lemon wedges. This is also a great way to relieve any stress or frustration children may be feeling in this time of uncertainty, squeezing the lemons requires lots of energy!

As always, cooking incorporates several other important skills such as scooping, sifting, measuring, mixing and also promotes thoughtful discussion while predicting the outcome of each cooking ‘experiment’! She also discusses the beloved spring and summer past time of holding a lemonade stand! This could be an exciting new dramatic play opportunity for the Yellow Room children to hold a lemonade stand at home for their families, including the fun of creating their own currency and practicing number recognition as they sell some of their fresh homemade lemonade to you.

With many parents busy working from home during this time, this could also be an engaging outlet for children to feel responsible and in charge of an adult-like task. Dramatic play and the freedom of expression is an important outlet for children to process and control activities or emotions in their daily lives, and fosters important self-regulation skills at an early age. During this current time and always, we encourage all children to freely express themselves and use their brilliant imaginations to plan, create, and most of all have fun!

We hope you all have a great day and enjoy this tasty treat! -Team Yellow

I don’t know about you, but my family LOVES grilled cheese! We have it at least once a week. So when I was trying to think of what I wanted to do for a cooking project this week, it was clear to me that we would need to make grilled cheese! So I started thinking, hmmmmm what makes a good, no wait…a GREAT grilled cheese? Is it the bread? Is it the cheese. Is there anything else you can put on a grilled cheese? The answer is YES…YES…and YES!!! All of the above.

After doing some research I found to my surprise that there are actually hundreds of different recipes for grilled cheese!!! For instance, you can use wheat bread, rye bread, pumpernickel or my favorite white bread to make your sandwich.

There are different types of cheeses too. For example, swiss, cheddar, muenster, mozzarella and of course American cheese. Then we can get into the endless toppings to add to your sandwich. Some of my favorites include tomatoes, ham, pulled pork, and bacon…mmmmmm bacon!! (Chef tip: Bacon makes everything better). And that is just the beginning! Who knew there were sooooo many types of grilled cheese!

Tyler and I make our now famous three cheese gourmet grilled cheese! 

I guess we are not the only ones who love grilled cheese. Check out this video.

 -Brad & Team Yellow

It would be fun to make little ‘chef’ hats before children help cooking or baking with you. Below is how to make a quick chef hat. Also, added are two recipes for fruity and healthy homemade snack/dessert since the days are getting warmer.

Materials

• Tissue Paper (any color your child wants)
• Scrapbook paper (or any paper)
• Tape
• Scissors

Steps

• Cut 1-2 inch thick strips of scrapbook paper.
• Measure around their head and tape the ends together, so it’s like a snug headband.
• Lay the tissue paper flat, then take each corner and tape it to the inside of the headband.
• Take the remaining parts of the tissue paper that are sticking out, and fold them in.
• Tape them to the inside of the headband so they’re secure.
• Fluff the inside so it puffs up like a Chef’s hat.

Here are ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of the onions Tiana is growing in her backyard!

Materials:

• Vegetable and fruit scraps
• Water
• Small cups/dishes
• Pots/planters
• Soil

Instructions:

Potatoes

Celery, lettuce, cabbage, and green onions

Onions

Tomatoes

Peppers

Apple Donuts:

Ingredients & Supplies Needed:

• Apples 
• Fruit Corer
• Cream Cheese
• Butter Knife
• Sprinkles 
• Food Coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Core and thinly slice your apple.
2. Next, add your cream cheese (frosting) – you could add a drop or two of food coloring to the cream cheese for a colorful look.
3. Add as many sprinkles as you’d like for a healthy alternative to a real donut!

Nut (or Nut Free) Butter and Jelly Sushi Rolls

• Sliced bread 
• Butter of your choice (peanut, almond, sun)
• Jelly
• Butter knife
• Rolling pin
• Chopsticks (Optional)

1. Cut the crust off of a slice of bread.
2. Use your rolling pin to flatten your bread into a thin layer.
3. Add your toppings and roll your bread together.
4. Cut the roll into one inch pieces and enjoy!  Challenge yourself by trying to eat them with real chopsticks!

Supplies Needed:

• English Muffins
• Cheese
• Tomato Sauce
• Oven (conventional or toaster)
• Baking tray
• Tinfoil or parchment paper

Optional Supplies:

• Spices and other toppings for your pizza

Supplies:

• Craft/popsicle sticks or knife
• Toilet paper rolls
• Twine or string
• Scissors
• Peanut butter, Sun butter or Soy butter
• Bird seed or bird-friendly alternatives (below are some ideas)
  • Rolled or quick oats
  • Unsalted and raw, crushed peanuts, pecans, or walnuts
  • Both dry and wet food for cats and dogs is thought to be a healthy food source for birds

Activity:

1. Using a utensil or popsicle stick, cover the outside of the toilet paper roll with peanut butter, sun butter or soy butter.
2. Roll the butter covered toilet paper roll in the bird seed or one of the alternatives until covered.
3. Thread a piece of twine through the toilet paper roll and knot.
4. Hang where birds can enjoy.