Fun Preschool Cooking Activities

Time for some Preschool Cooking Activities?

One of the really cool things about children is that they love to help others and they love to create. With this combination at heart, preschool cooking activities can take on a life of their own if you're not careful.

Hidden within these activities you can teach the kids math, measurements and reading comprehension while enhancing language and motor skills.

Of course, when it comes to cooking activities, you may actually want to cook. Below are a few fun recipes to try out with the wee ones.

Pull Taffy -

Combine 2 cups sugar, ½ cup corn syrup and 2/3 cups water in a saucepan while stirring over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Using a candy thermometer, boil without stirring until it reaches 268°. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla.

This can be a toy for the kids to play with while they eat and gives ample time for the kids to participate in making the product.

Dirt Cake -

Pulverize 1 lb. Oreo cookies in a food processor.

In a large bowl combine 2 cups of milk and 2 large boxes of vanilla pudding until thick.

Fold in 1 tub of cool whip and blend until smooth.

In a separate bowl combine 8 oz. of creame cheese, ½ stick of margarine and 1 cup powdered sugar and fold in the pudding mixture.

Stir until smooth; pour into a plastic flower pot or a baking pan if you want to make a grave.

Cover with the Oreos and add some gummy worms.

Toss in a plastic flower to make it look like it's growing from the "dirt".

The kids can pretend to do all kinds of things in the dirt such as gardening or archaeology.

Painted Bread -

Add a tablespoon of milk in several small bowls and add different food coloring to each bowl. Let the kids paint the slices of bread.

If you toast the bread, the colors will be even brighter and less soggy. This will bring out the artist in your child. You can also get some cookie monster coloring pages.

Fruit Bowls -

Simple and healthy: cut up some oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries and maybe some cherries or strawberries. This can add some bonding time between you and the kids while you help them cut the food.

Added Skills -

With preschool cooking activities and lessons that provide motor skill improvement you may wish to try to have the children cut things into tiny pieces, transfer ingredients from one container to another and cleaning and setting the table.

Math skills can be enhanced as the kids learn to count out the ingredient measurements, division is learned by cutting food into different pieces, and the wee ones can learn multiplication if you double a recipe.

Language skills are better handled after learning new vocabulary and by the shear reaction the kids have to their creations through expression.

Social Studies can be added into the mix of your preschool cooking activities when you teach about cultures and history as you prepare international meals.

Field Trip -

Include a field trip as a cooking preschool activities , you can take the children to the grocery store so that they can learn about the different types of foods used as ingredients in the meals they eat every day.

In the Kitchen -

In the kitchen preschool cooking activities can include scrubbing vegetables, tear lettuce, stir the dough, pour ingredients, add pre-measured ingredients, grease pans, peel eggs or fruits and crush crackers for toppings.

Create, imagine and play with the food and cooking with kids can be so much fun!