Over the year we have noticed the children's delight in imaginary cooking, using leaves or snow, plus their pride when bringing snack they helped cook.
Recently we read several books about making pancakes including Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle, and Pancakes For Breakfast by Tomie dePaola. The children are well versed on the ingredients it takes to make a pancake and where those ingredients come from (before they get to the store). We are learning new vocabulary every day.
I met with a small group of children to look through a cookbook, and hear their ideas. The children followed along with each picture direction, practicing pre-literacy skills. Several children shared their experience of cooking with their parents and delighted in the recipes found in the book. After a while, one child said "Let's stop reading and make this!" Another was certain in his recipe for making pancakes, "One pour flour, one pour milk, two eggs." So we decided to test his recipe.
Every child participated in the making of the batter, whether by cracking an egg, pouring flour or milk, or stirring the mixture. Each step required a level of fine-motor finesse. We noticed that the batter was sticky and lumpy, not like the kind we make at home.
Mrs. McHugh lent us her electric griddle so we could cook the pancakes in the classroom. We wondered how we would know when to flip the pancakes with a spatula. One child thought "5 minutes", another said "When it's not squishy". It was hard to be patient.
We tasted the pancake plain, before adding real maple syrup provided by Ms. Kadota. Almost every child ate the whole pancake and a few asked to taste the batter. But, the pancakes were hard and difficult to cut with our plastic knives and forks.
At the end of the morning we reconvened to discuss if our recipe was a success and how to improve it. The children hoped for light and fluffy pancakes, like a pillow. When I asked the children who was an expert on making pancakes they replied in unison "Meeeeee. My mom." So I invited Andrew's mom to come in and teach us her recipe.
We watched as she measured the ingredients (previously we just poured), added oil (which we hadn't), and used a whisk to stir out the lumps (we'd used a wooden spoon). Andrew's mom told us she learned to cook pancakes with her mom and follows the directions. This time the batter looked right.
Our expert showed us how to look for the bubbles and take a peek at the underneath to see if the pancakes are ready to flip. For these pancakes our reactions were "Delicious", "Yummy in my tummy" and two thumbs up! I wonder where our cooking adventures will take us next.
