Keep warm outdoors with a hot snack!
Having an outdoor snack requires a bit of forward planning and flexibility. Whenever we plan a fire, we always have a back-up snack to prepare and eat indoors in case of rain.
On cold days, it’s especially nice to eat snack outdoors around a fire. This was the first time we had our snack in the snow! That was exciting.
On Wednesday afternoon, we prepared the soup base indoors with four children. We made a simple vegetable soup stock. The children washed, peeled and chopped the carrots. They washed and chopped the celery and rutabaga and added the salt and some parsley. You can use any simple vegetable stock recipe you like.
We pre-cooked the stock on the stove indoors to reduce the amount of time the children would have to wait for their snack. This step isn’t always necessary. The soup will cook quickly over a fire. However, as teachers of a school-based outdoor learning program, we often must be time-conscious due to the school schedule. We knew the children would want to play in the snow after snack so we ensured they had sufficient time to do so.
On Thursday, we finished cooking the soup over the fire with all students present. While they were seated around the fire, we added alphabet noodles to the soup. In no time at all, the children were sipping delicious, hot alphabet-vegetable soup.
Here are just some of the skills you can develop by providing cooking experience such as this for your students:
- listening comprehension: following a recipe
- tool safety: handling peelers and chopping knives (make sure the utensils are the right size for small hands)
- gross motor skills: peeling and chopping vegetables
- math: measurement: cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, temperature
- communication skills: there will be tons of conversation and listening opportunities while cooking and while sitting around the fire
- vocabulary development
- fire safety rules
- physical science: heat from fire, changes in the vegetables and noodles
- thinking skills: acquisition of knowledge and comprehension of new learning
Don’t miss this great interdisciplinary learning experience. I encourage you to take your students outdoors for snack. Yes, even in the winter!
