This nutritious tea-time dish is very popular with our children and is one that they help to prepare. Children learn through hands-on exploration and we try to make our cookery lessons as practical as possible, so enabling children to have input into their own meals. This gives them a sense of pride, confidence and self-esteem. It also helps to encourage the more fussy eaters, who will invariably eat what they have helped to produce.
We involve the children in the whole process of herb-growing - planting, watching them grow, watering, picking the herbs. We extend this by getting the children to smell the different types of herbs and learn the names. To help, we provide large laminated name labels on sticks that the children can place beside the growing herbs.
The children also help prepare the vegetables for the soup. Finding knives that are sharp enough to cut the veg and herbs but not the children's fingers can be tricky. After much searching we have found the 'My Safe Cutter' knives from www.pamperedchef.com the best product to use for this purpose.
The children still need plenty of supervision when cutting. However, these knives allow the children to be much more independent in trying out cutting tasks that are usually reserved for older children or adults.
The best age group for this type of supervised activity are three years plus, although younger children can start to be introduced very carefully to such activities under strict supervision.
Soup ingredients (for approximately 40 children)
1 large squash;
1kg sweet potato;
2 tbsp veg bouillon (MSG free, such as Knorr);
3 pints water
Method
- Peel and de-seed the squash.
- Peel the sweet potato.
- Dice the veg into small cubes.
- Put into a large pan with the bouillon and water.
- Bring to the boil, then simmer until veg is soft.
- Blend until smooth and thick.
- If needed, add boiling water until the right consistency.
Herby rolls ingredients (for around 36 small rolls)
3 packets of Hovis wholemeal bread mix;
herbs from the garden, eg, parsley, chives and basil;
10 fl oz of warm water;
1 oz butter
Method
- With assistance from staff, let children mix the ingredients together.
- Place the dough into mixing bowls, cover with a damp cloth and place somewhere warm (for example, in the airing cupboard) for first rising.
- When it has doubled in size, the children need to 'knock the dough down'. This means knocking the air out in a kneading action. (Children have great fun doing this to dough at this very spongy stage.)
- Each child gets a small portion of dough to roll into a ball (approximately satsuma size).
- Put the dough ball on a greased baking tray, cover and return to the warm to double in size.
- When balls have risen (after approximately 30 minutes), place in a hot oven 200 degC/425 degF or gas 7 for 20 minutes.
- Emma Comer is owner-manager and Meg Smith is cook at Tall Trees Kindergarten, Frome, Somerset. Visit www.talltreeskindergarten.co.uk
