Over the summer, our herb garden grew strong and we had an
abundance of basil. Coincidentally, Teacher Mariam brought in a big bag of
beautiful cherry tomatoes from her dad’s garden. So, off we went into our first
cooking activity!
We wanted a simple recipe with just a few ingredients so we
decided on cooking pasta with pesto sauce and cherry tomatoes.
Last class, we had intentionally placed some of the herbs out. We
wanted the children to observe, feel, smell, and experiment with the herbs. In
the next class, during our morning gathering, we passed basil leaves around for
the children to feel and smell. Some children said they liked the smell, and
some did not. The children who were playing with the herbs in the morning
seemed to like the smell better than the friends who had not played with the
herbs previously.
We then asked the children to help snip leaves off the basil
plant. A few of our friends were very excited and wanted to cut the basil off
the main stems. We explained that we needed to take care of our plants so that
they recover and regrow more basil. The children then took turns and
carefully snipped the leaves making sure they were not crushing or breaking the
main stems. When we returned inside, we washed the basil and made sure we had
just the leaves and not the stems.
While waiting for our water to boil for our pasta, we cut
tomatoes. With eager hands and butter knives, children were cutting carefully
to make sure the tomatoes were cut in half.
Some children liked the tomatoes, and some preferred the pasta without the tomatoes. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed sitting together and trying the recipe.
Karen
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