GETTING KIDS IN THE KITCHEN: Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls

Hello, everyone! How was your dinner last night? Ours was delicious. We had chicken soup with cheesy bread rolls, which was made with the kids! 

When I told my daughter we were going to bake together, she got so excited. Big smile across her face, jumping and down, shouting, "YEAH YEAH YEAH!" She loves to help. It makes her feel like a big girl. My son didn't really care until we actually started making them. Then, he wanted in on everything. 

We used an extremely basic recipe. These guys are both under four, and there are two of them, so things get real messy and hectic, real quick. I asked my husband to take photos of our endeavor- I love the man, but he seemed to enjoy taking candid photos of my face more than his designated task.

 

 

At least he had fun, right?

For this recipe, we just used a premade raw dough from Basha's. You can honestly use any recipe. I am not going to go all out and say, "Here is my very own made-from-scratch sprinkled with love bread rolls recipe," because it is not that. It's sprinkled with love, but that's all. The point was to get two toddlers excited about cooking, and this certainly helped with that. I have plenty of original recipes, I promise! Those just tend to be desserts. Maybe I'll share them someday. Maybe. If you're good ;)

Anyway, you can also just use crescent roll dough, pizza crush dough, whatever. Our whole house actually really likes Basha's crust dough. It has a great flavor and always bakes nicely chewy and fluffy. My dad uses it for stromboli, and it's amazing. We then just used butter, shredded cheese, garlic powder, rosemary, black pepper, and paprika. No real measuring involved this time. We had to be quick, and we wanted the kids to have fun so they want to get involved more.

First thing we did was melt some butter and spread it around on the pan. I totally misjudged the size of the pan, but it got the job done, and it did provide more room for the kids to work without getting flour all over the table. The large size basically worked as a tray, so that worked in our favor.

 

After that, the kids had fun playing with the dough and rolling it into balls (and yes, they washed their hands first). It was pretty sticky, so we added flour to their hands as well as the bottom of the pan.

 

This part got messy, but they enjoyed it. It is a good sensory experience for little ones, with the powdery flour, the sticky dough, and the slippery butter, if your kids rub their hands in it like mine did. Rolling the dough into balls does help work with their coordination. They really do not have to be perfect, either. This is something for them to make without much room for failure. A successful recipe will encourage them to do more.

 Aferward, my daughter poured on melted butter and my son spread it around with the basting brush. Teamwork, right?

 

He also helped eat the cheese after Luna helped dump it on.

Both of them added seasonings (my son likes to help add seasonings onto things. He'll even dump salt and pepper onto my food when he thinks I need it).

As you can see, they really enjoyed themselves. 

I wasn't able to get a photo of the baked result. They were pretty much eaten as soon as they came out of the oven. My brothers all loved the rolls, and hearing their praises really gave them a confidence boost. Here's an image of them before they were baked, though.

 

Not bad for a couple of toddlers, right?

They came out very fluffed up with a great texture. They were gone pretty darn quickly. The important thing, however, is that the kids got involved. When you're working with little bitty ones, a full on from scratch recipe can be overwhelming, especially if the kids have any sort of spectrum issues. It can be time consuming, and they can get bored easily. This was short enough for them to enjoy the whole process, which leaves them wanting more. A very basic and simple recipe leaves little room for error, which means they won't be discouraged. Over time, they will learn trial and error, but right now, the goal is to get them to enjoy working in the kitchen. They had fun, they contributed, they enjoyed the end results, and they loved the encouragement from their uncles and grandparents. 

What recipes did you first make as a kid? What recipes do you make with your kids now?

BOOK REVIEW: National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals

Hello, everyone. Thanks for checking out my first review! 

First, let me say, I tried doing a video for this, but apparently, a few minutes of video will take over six hours to upload into YouTube. I suppose until I have access to a better internet connection, videos will just have to wait. I am sitting here, allowing it to upload simply to see how long it actually will take, but I do not have much hope.

So, in the mean time, I will stick with photos, blogs, and tweets. Oh well. More time to get over my stage fright, right? Back to business.

Today, one of the first items I have ordered for home schooling my kids came in, and that would be the National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals (National Geographic Little Kids First Big Books) by Catherine D. Hughes. 

I ordered this from eBay in used, good condition for about $6 shipped, but you can order this new from Amazon for about $10 (with free shipping, if you have Prime).  

I know it says, "First," but it really isn't for infants. It is hardcover, but the pages are paper, not board. I believe the intended age range is 4-5, although I would say that could drop to 3-5. The pages are all gorgeous. Each one is bright and colorful with stunning images of various wildlife. In addition to the pictures, they all have a few simple facts about each creature, including how big they grow to be, how many babies they birth, where they live, and other fun tidbits. Each animal has about 2-4 pages dedicated to them. They are also separated by habitat- Ocean, Forest, Desert, etc. The book is over 100 pages long- definitely a big book for a little kid.

Precious photos of baby animals are quite frequent, too.

There are a couple other features about this book I like quite a lot. One of them is the Parent Tips section towards the back of the book. Inside, you will find very easy and fun activities to do with your child, and each one is coordinated with one of the animals in the book. They also work with different senses, subjects, and skills. Many of them are very simple, like make juice pops while you learn about camels, or watch videos of polar bears online. Others are more in depth, like discuss what different colors represent in wildlife and to humans. 

So, on top of fun lessons on animals around the world, you also get about 30 different extra things to do with your kids. The best part is how different they all are. You get things that work with art, math, critical thinking, observations, and more. That is about a month's worth of  basic biology while incorporating other educational subjects. You know what else is great? There are many more of these books like this. There are ones about space, dinosaurs, the ocean, bugs, and even ones on history and other sciences. I do not have those yet, but I did order the bug one and the dinosaur one. They should be in by next week, and when they come in, I will be sure to check those out and post about them. Although, really, this book is over 100 pages long. It has plenty of information to make a young child want to read it again and again, so you are certainly in no huge rush to purchase them all.

And, again... baby animals! Who wouldn't want to go back to look at them?

So, lets discuss... How can you get the most out of this book?

Well, it's already pretty darn handy, especially with the Parent Tips. Of course, that isn't all you can do with this book! Other things you can do are:

•Make this book last the year. Dedicate each week to an animal in the book. Have them do various crafts throughout the week. On Seal Week, let them help you make a lunch or dinner with things seals eat! Give them some paper to write and draw a picture book about meerkats on Meerkat week. Find a documentary on YouTube or Netflix about giraffes on Giraffe week. The possibilities are endless! Of course, don't forget the Parent Tips in the book. That will give you a project for the day right there.

•Create little versions of their homes! Dig some holes for meerkats, make spider webs out of string, build a nest like an owl, make a cave fort, or even just paint their habitats.

•Teach about the weather! You can learn about these different animals based on the time of year, and do what these creatures do to survive in the conditions. Put on extra layers of clothes, more than usual in the winter, to represent seals and their blubber, or faux fur coats like a polar bear. Take them for a hike in the summer (not in dangerous heats, obviously) and stash a back pack with energy-enriching foods and plenty of water to represent how a camel's hump helps them survive in the harsh deserts.

•Make masks and put on a play about what animals do to eat, where they sleep, and how they avoid being hunted.

•If a week per animal is too long, make it a week about the continent and include all the animals. This works as a geography lesson on top of a biology lesson. Research together how these animals live together, may it be in peace side by side, or as hunter and prey. 

Speaking of continents...

The book even has a little map of where the animals live. Obviously, it isn't super detailed, but these are little kids we're talking about.

Overall, this is an excellent book for kids curious about wildlife around the globe. There are plenty of educational activities to base around this one book alone. I would definitely recommend this, and I will keep you updated on the other ones I get.

Meanwhile, you can buy this new from Amazon through here.