Kindergarten/Grade 1: Learning the Steps to Prep Their Own Snack!

I recently facilitated a cooking class for my son’s after school program. For this class I chose to teach only the kindergarten & grade 1 age students.  The learning objective was to demonstrate how easy and fun it is to make their own snack with just a little adult supervision. The final goal was to observe them preparing and enjoying their own pizzas.

There were 17 children in the class, so I divided them into two groups. Together we made mini pizzas with a choice of toppings. I choose mini pizzas as they are practical/simple to cook, cool quickly and often suffice for a light snack.

I had portioned the dough and prepared toppings in advance. I then drew a grid and wrote each child’s name on a sheet of parchment paper. It was then placed face down on a baking sheet.

Each child was given their dough.

Next, they shaped their dough, I offered choice of toppings and once complete, they placed it on their name on the grid of parchment paper using a bench scraper (kitchen tool similar to a spatula).

This lesson also focused on the fine motor skills of shaping dough and transferring the pizza to the baking sheet. Once a child has learned these motor skills/steps, they can be included in more of the process such as making, shaping the dough, and preparing the toppings.  

The kids loved the class… they all had something to share about the experience:

“We love pizza”.

“Cooking is easy”.

“This is fun”.

“We love choice”

“Is the pizza ready yet?”

Enjoy making pizza at home with your children, they will love to be included in the meal preparation and baking!

Best,

Chef Russ