Never a day goes by in our outdoor environment without some interesting culinary delights being conjured up by our little master chefs. The children love to source natural materials from the environment including: seed pods, leaves, flowers, berries, water, sand and dirt.
They enjoy working in teams collaborating and sharing their ideas. Here, S and B carefully pull apart and crumble the fibres of a seed pod. With patience, they repeat this process until they have a good size bowl full.
Time to add some water and mix.
Then the juice of a lemon.
Perhaps some flower buds.
A final mix, and it’s ready.
Mmmm, looks delicious!
Scooping, Measuring, Sieving, Sifting, Juicing, Mashing, Grinding, Counting, Blending and Mixing promote the development of many Math and Science concepts.
Sometimes the children have to use their problem-solving skills to gain access to their favoured ingredients. These berries are very popular but are just beyond the reach of the children. So a variety of tools and platforms are utilized by the children to harness their supply.
Mix and Mash.
And finally another delicious concoction!
To see more Mini-Master Chef’s in action, click through here. 🙂
This post brought back so many wonderful memories.
Some of my earliest memories are of making ice-cream flavours using plants and flowers.
I was also allowed in my dad’s van. He was a plumber. That was my ice-cream van, and I’d use many of his ‘tools’ and supplies to make ice creams too.
The images in your post are great. I love that the kids are using scoops, juicers etc.
Thanks Jackie! Yes, similiar memories for me too. I remember making different coloured bottles of lemonade using the petals of flowers from the garden. Much to my mothers horror I should think! 🙂
Looks like so much fun Karen, would you consider adding this to the outdoor play link up?
Yes it is Kierna, and thank you for the reminder regarding the link up. I’m onto it! 🙂
Thanks Karen, you’re a true star!
I really must stop slacking about and do something about our play area out the back. I put so much effort into our indoor areas and yet the yard is completely neglected. I want my kids to make mud concoctions again! I blame winter for my neglected yard 😀 Ok, I WILL do something about it soon 😀
PS – The playgroup kids ADORED the cloud dough! The table had a steady stream of kids the entire time. It’s so silky and smooth. We loved it. Thanks 😀
Oh, I can’t imagine you slacking around Kate, Mum’s can be so hard on themselves sometimes! Pleased to hear the children loved the cloud dough! 🙂