Cooking: Making Trail Mix

Cooking is something I always want to get to more often during the school year, but we always seem to run out of time...so prior to starting summer school I found several recipes and adapted them using Boardmaker.  I planned for doing 1 recipe a week during summer school.  Luckily, most of the recipes involve non-perishable foods, so I was able to shop for them all at once.  These recipes are available on TPT in packs of 3 recipes with corresponding comprehension sheets.  Check them out here.

This week, we made trail mix.  I did this activity with 3 kids at a time.  It took about 25-30 minutes to get through each group.  To start, we read through the recipe. 

Next, I lined up all the ingredients and had my kids practice labeling them.  We also discussed how the different ingredients taste (i.e. salty vs. sweet, hard vs. soft, etc.).  Since step 1 says "Pick ingredients that you think taste yummy," we also took turns saying whether we thought each ingredient was "yummy" or "yucky."  I was actually surprised because some of my kids said "yucky" to raisins.  Now, I'm not surprised they don't like raisins, but I was surprised they seemed to actually understand the concept of "yummy" and "yucky" as related to their personal preferences...not just relating "yucky" to really gross things like garbage.

 Then, we went down the line and started putting ingredients in our measuring cups.  Each kid got 1 cup to fill with ingredients. For each ingredient I told the kids the max number of that item they could choose (i.e. 10 mini marshmallows, 7 pretzels, 5 animal crackers, etc.).  The kids got to choose how many they wanted of each ingredient.  They had to count them out as they went.  I have never seen their counting so great!  I guess, when they want to make sure they are getting the most of their favorite foods, they will focus a little harder!  

Then, we poured the ingredients into a baggie and shook them up!

Once the kids were finished eating, they filled out these comprehension sheets that covered a "What," "Where," "How," "When," "Who," and a "yes/no" question.  I have 2 versions of this comprehension sheet.  One with picture options....and the other with no picture options.

This recipe was a huge success...and we have a lot of left overs, so I am pretty sure we will be making it again!

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