South Dakota students are out of school until at least May 1. Parents and caregivers will be using their creativity to help kids stay on top of their lessons. Thankfully, educators have been sending out lesson plans in many districts. My Pinterest feed has been filling with educational activities. South Dakota Public Broadcasting also has resources to share with families.
Another venue includes SDSU Extension. Kimberly Cripps is a Family and Community Health Field Specialist with SDSU. Cripps suggests making the kitchen a working classroom while spending time at home. “When you think of the variety of tasks that are involved in food preparation, you can incorporate so many skills and knowledge including math skills, science, even history.”
SDSU Extension backs this belief with extensive resources to support families in the garden, grocery store, and kitchen through their Pick it! Try it! Preserve it! program. Because even curious consumers can be stumped by what to do with a new ingredient, this program provides students and parents with opportunities to learn more about a variety of foods, from apples to wild chokecherries.
Debra Kraft is the Hospitality & Tourism CTE Instructor at Mobridge Pollock High School and offers activities that include young children, “Start with things which we may think of as chores - setting out silverware for a meal, putting things like salt and pepper, or condiments on the table. Don't think of them as chores - they are ways to help the family and work together.”
These activities focus on motor skills and establishing procedure. Kraft also suggests simple items that students of any age could certainly help make like dill pickle wraps, rolling crescent rolls, dropping cookie dough on a pan with a scoop, or putting ready-made cookie dough on a pan. For older children, consider smoothies, caramel apple nachos, fruit dip, “When I work with middle school students, I choose recipes with a limited number of ingredients and recipes that typically are forgiving, it has a record of being successful even if someone makes a mistake.”
With guidance and close supervision kids may learn some knife skills, though Kraft has a few work arounds, “I don't have most kids do recipes that have a lot of cutting. Lettuce can be torn rather than cut. Children can use kitchen shears or a bench scraper rather than knives for things like pepperoni, salami , canned biscuits etc.”
One simple recipe that has appeal for many kids, Peanut Butter Wraps. Any spread can be substituted if your child has allergies.
Peanut Butter Wraps
Peanut Butter (or substitute)
Thin Banana slices
1 Tbsp Mini Chocolate Chips
Spread butter on tortilla, arrange banana slices, scatter mini chips. Roll up like a wrap sandwich. This can be cut into small pinwheels but may need toothpicks to hold it closed.
My children have been eager to help with food preparation since they could sit themselves upright. They enjoy attempting to crack eggs. They work on motor skills while spreading peanut butter across a slice of bread. While slicing said bread, my husband and I try to provide examples of fractions to our second grader, with varying success.
Many parents have been doing the same thing in their own homes. In this time of alternative education, homeschooling is a reminder that you’ve been doing pretty well this entire time. Kids are eager to learn and help, and it’s nice to have access to a few more resources to make use of that desire.