乐器、纸、水都能够发出声音。但你有没有听过能发出声音的曲奇饼呢？
今天上午，小煮家们就自己动手制作了一个不但能发出声，而且还香喷喷、金黄爽口的曲奇。大家搓、揉、切的当儿，也制作了属于自己独特设计的小铃铛。。边玩铃铛，边吃曲奇，好开心哦！
Things around us can make sounds! But did you know that cookies can make sounds too?? Today at Littlecookhouse, we explored different items that make sounds & picked up skills like mixing, rolling & cutting! We had so much fun making lots of noises!!
cookies that make sounds? Read More »
We successfully conducted 2 sugar cookies classes over the weekend, and it was a joy watching the happy faces of the little chefs eating their own creation.
This was not an easy class, particularly for the younger kids, as their fine motor skills are still being developed, plus the lack of such practice at home. Therefore, parents’ involvement became extremely crucial for this class, as the parents will have to guide their child in the rolling and cutting process. We are very proud of the parents who are willing to sacrifice speed and progress, to give their child the maximum exposure in creating their own cookies, instead of doing it on their behalf.
When we developed this class, we knew that there is probably insufficient time to teach the kids about measurement, hence, the dedicated focus on rolling and cutting. We also make the lessons age appropriate, by only introducing the technique to make rainbow cookies for older kids.
This strategy certainly works, as we see that our under 5 years old enjoying the cutting of the dough into different shapes the most. In contrast, the older kids were most wowed when the technique of mixing colours into their dough was introduced, as it allows them to use their colours knowledge to blend a colour of their choice. This is a good illustration of what age-appropriate activities can do to instill interests in children!
Rolling, cutting, colouring and playing with dough! Read More »
Little Cookhouse conducted our very first class requiring our 3-5 years old to measure out the ingredients. It was a very good learning experience for us, as we need to work with a lot of ambiguity.
Fortunately, our little chefs manage it well (with assistance from Teacher and parents of course!), and produced cookies which tasted great, even though there were slight differences in colours, size and even the sweetness.
This, as we explained to parents, is what makes baking a learning process. We can teach children the importance of measurement, that by adding more or less of something, their output may differ. Your ultimate goal is not the creation of restaurant-quality food, but boosting your child’s self-esteem and encouraging independence. More importantly, it’s about having a happy kid who’s excited to spend time working on something and doing it well!
Baking is also about providing early exposure to the child, in terms of measurement, scooping, sieving, which all helps in their numeracy and fine motor skills development. It also presents opportunities to talk about culture, nutrition and values. For instance, parents can continue to engage the child after the class, by discussing about the values from the story ‘If you give a mouse a cookie’.
Parents can ask leading questions like “Will you give the mouse a cookie?”, “Why did you do so?”, “Do you think the mouse is being greedy?”, “Do you think the boy was very kind and helpful, and such an act is something you can also learn from?” etc.
Again, it’s not about arriving at a factually correct answer, but about stimulating the thinking of your little one!
What children can learn from the Mouse who wants a cookie! Read More »
Came across this useful infographics from cooksmarts.com on the roles kids can play in the kitchen! The pizza cooking class we did last week builds on the ‘Prepping & Chopping’ (using kid’s knife) and ‘Cooking’ (assemble pizza).
It’s important that age-appropriate activities are introduce to kids, as it impacts the level of confidence and mastery of the child in future!
Age-appropriate roles for kids in the kitchen Read More »
We started to build and emphasis on the skills that kids can learn, and the “Lets Make Pizza” class clearly embodies this.
The skills introduce – cut, knead, roll and assemble – may seems easy to an adult, but gave that to a 3/4 years old and you’ll find how ‘raw’ they are at such things. But this is the perfect age to expose them to such skills, as it helps to hone their fine motor skills. This is also the chance to introduce about knife safety, nutrition and numeracy, just to name a few. For instance, we can tell them about a balance diet and how greens are so important it is a must to be included in the pizza; we can get them to count the numbers of parts they’ve cut in a sausage, or even set a number of parts and get them to cut it!
The other advantage is it helps to reduce the barrier for picky eaters. Why? Because they play a part in the preparation process, and it becomes easier to egg them to try – just take a tiny bite – of something they have assembled and created on their own. This may not change their preference, but it’s always a good exposure to new food ingredients for them.
We also tried to reinforce the learnings through fun activities. We created a 6-sided pizza die – comprising of a sauce, ingredients like cheese, peppers, ham etc – which we get the kid to roll, with a condition that they need to get a sauce first, before they can paste the other ingredients. Sounds easy? Not so for the kids, as their motor skills does not allow them to roll the die well. BUT this is when things get funny, as a child starts to think creatively, whereby instead of rolling, he decides to ‘drop’ the die gently such that the sauce faces up! And the rest of the kids started doing the same!!! It’s great to see how kids can learn from each other so quickly!
We also prepare a busy bag for the child to bring back, where the child can create pizzas based on the order form, or parents can introduce personalised pizza, so that the child can learn about listening to instructions while having fun!
Hope this can inspire parents to introduce useful skills to their 3-4 years old! It’s never too late to start!
Let’s Make Pizza – Cut, knead, roll, assemble! Read More »
87 Dawson Road Singapore 141087
Sat-Sun (By Appointment only)
