Z is for Zucchini - 8/23/11

Some days you just NEVER stop. Today was one of those days. We went from one activity to the next, and I actually COOKED, three meals today, not just cereal in a bowl, but actually cooked at the stove, PLUS, we made zucchini bread for letter. That is WAY too much oven time for me! I really don't like to cook.  But somehow we made it through and managed to have some fun in the process :)  The kids LOVED making zucchini bread. We got used Paula Dean's recipe. They were less enthusiastic about eating it for some reason (I thought it was pretty good - a little dry I guess, but definitely edible). But by the end of the day I was BEAT! Thank goodness for Mom's Night Out!! I needed it!

So why cook with kids?  Well, if you google this question you'll get lots of lists telling you why it's a good idea. And they are all true. But for me it boils down to these 3 things:

1.  It's fun! They love doing it and they always fondly remember when you made this or that and can't wait to do it again. Memories are important. Making school fun is important!

2.  Again, less is more. With this one activity we touched on math, life-cycles, chemistry, vocabulary, turn-taking, patience, 5-senses, physics, worked on small and large muscle development, art appreciation, alphabet, phonics, kitchen safety, and agriculture. We talked. A LOT.  How much they will retain, who knows? But they all were introduced to some new things and Scout and Jem reviewed some things they had learned before. Good stuff.

3. It encourages them to try new foods. Jem tried a bite. Not much, but no way would zucchini ever cross those lips without us making this bread. Because he went through the process of making it, he wanted to try it and see what it tasted like. He didn't love it, and that was fine, but he tried it. Win!