Thanksgiving cooking with kids
This is my first Thanksgiving outside of America (I'm an English teacher in Seoul) and I was asked to prepare a cooking class for my kindy students. They're between 4 and 7 and I have access to an oven, stove etc.
What's a good thing to cook with kids? They need to be involved but I also want them to see what Thanksgiving is all about. I was thinking pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread but want to find something a little more interesting. Any suggestions!?
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8 Comments:
Since Thanksgiving (in theory) is about the pilgrims' gratitude for the food they found here (including venison, of course), I'd talk with them about what foods pilgrims to their country would find, and then I'd talk with them about what traditional American foods they would find unusual if they were to have come to our shores. Go from there.
Isn't pumpkin pie interesting if you don't have a lot of squashes? Don't know what these kids will have encountered, but any of the traditional sides might do. Do they have cranberries? Whole cranberry sauce would be interesting, (and, by the way, it goes very well with salty asian food, such as bulgogi. (I use it instead of duck sauce with potstickers.)
lemonfair at 6:55AM on 11/09/09
kids love mac and cheese... how about making a mac and cheese and adding pumpkin or butternurt squash into the sauce. My nieces love it.
MadelynRodriguez at 3:00PM on 11/09/09
i thought of something else... and super simple to make on the stove top. How about making home-made cranberry sauce?? I don't know how readily available fresh cranberries are in Korea, but kids can taste it alone, with turkey or on top of ice cream if they want too.
MadelynRodriguez at 3:02PM on 11/09/09
I'm a carb-lover from the word go, so I was always into helping make the rolls for Thanksgiving dinner - they're easy enough to make individual, and if they need rising time, all the better. Start the process, teach the lesson while the yeast works its magic, and then finish them when the dough is big and puffy. And, bonus, explain how yeast works!
katieelby at 6:20PM on 11/09/09
We make stone soup every year with my daughter's school. Each child brings an ingredient and adds it to a pot full of broth. The older children help cut vegetables and meat, and the younger children make butter from scratch and corn muffins (she's in a montessori school, so they have a large age-range in her class). Then the entire class sits down and enjoys the soup and corn bread together, and they talk about everything they're thankful for.
We look forward to it every year - it's a lot of fun for all of the kids (and parents, too).
WickedGoodDinner at 9:50PM on 11/09/09
Cranberries are a native American food that isn't common in the UK - the kids might like really like to try some dishes - like a cranberry tart or bread. Maybe a salad featuring cranberries, or a fruit salad (cranberries + oranges + apples) could be easy and fun.
Sweet potato pie is another traditional dish that kids like; so are candied yams. Or mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup.
And there are lots of fun decorations kids can make - turkeys from pine cone and some construction paper or felt. Indian head dresses and pligrim hats. There are lots of downloadable images for projects online.
MMinNYC at 12:02PM on 11/10/09
I love not only the idea of putting butternut squash in mac and cheese, but showing the kids mac and cheese and having my school pay for it! Mac and cheese is my all time favorite and cheese is expensive here!!
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I will definitely make some canberries for my potluck turkey day dinner (as I have no oven and need to cook something on a hot plate!). Have a great holiday stateside!
ktown at 1:22AM on 11/11/09
How about sweet potato biscuits? You could also make fresh butter to go along. Just put fresh cold cream in a jar and go around the room and have the kids shake it until the butter separates from the whey. They'll love it!
minsey at 10:59PM on 11/12/09