Children Create Soul Food

When I say Soul Food, I mean that when children are involved in preparing food (and cleaning up) it nourishes their very being. There are so many ways to allow children of all ages to participate in the kitchen. My 19-month-old can help by giving me needed items, putting cut food into a nearby bowl or pot, loading the dirty silverware in the dishwasher, handing me clean silverware, wiping the floor after I wash it….. My 4-year-old can cut things with a butter knife, pour, mix, crack eggs, whisk, grate, arrange, make a sandwich, decorates baked goods, wash produce, load the dishwasher, wash dishes, unload the silverware, rearrange his kitchen/dining shelf, start the oven with guidance, set the table before meals, wash the table after meals…… And my 10-year-old can do all of that, plus make eggs, make butter, slice and dice with a real cutting knife, peel and core, wash and dry dishes, clean the counter tops, stir food as it is cooking, pull things in and out of the oven, measure, and even look up recipes that he wants to make and enjoy. (Sigh…that was a long sentence). It is more time consuming to involve your children, but well-worth it in the long run. Hey, you never know, you could wake up on Mother’s Day or Father's Day one year and have a gourmet breakfast in bed made by your kids ;) . Either way, if you don’t know how or even why to get started, there are a ton of great resources for you and your children.

Some resources are:

6 Ways to Thrive in The Kitchen With the Kids - http://simplemom.net/6-ways-to-thrive-in-the-kitchen-with-the-kids/
Teaching Your Kids to Cook - http://www.squidoo.com/kids_can_cook
Twelve Reasons to Bake with your Children - http://www.homebaking.org/familyfun/reasons.html
Kids Healthy Recipes Guide - http://kidshealthyrecipesguide.blogspot.com/2009/10/bake-christmas-treats-with-your-kids.html
Tips for Baking with Toddlers - http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/baking-with-toddlers

Here are a handful of books:

Baking Bread With Children (Crafts Series) by Warren Lee Cohen
Williams Sonoma Kids Baking by Abigail J. Dodge
Mom and Me Cookbook by Annabel Karmel
You're the Cook! A Guide to Mixing It Up In the Kitchen. For Children 9 and up! (Paperback) by You're the Cook!
Cooking with Children: 15 Lessons for Children, Age 7 and Up, Who Really Want to Learn to Cook by Marion Cunningham
The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children by Keith McGowan
Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen
Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen and Ann L. HendersonCooking Around the Calendar with Kids: Holiday and Seasonal Food and Fun

Montessori Home

Okay, I am back....with a slightly different perspective and way of blogging (well, I guess it will unfold as I continue to post new discussions). Currently, I have been trying to make our living space an optimal learning environment for our children. As a family, we have been drifting more and more toward what we have learned from the Montessori method. We are working on creating a space in every room for our children. This includes all rooms: the bedrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the family/living rooms, any home offices, the bathrooms, the garage, the front entry... We have yet to complete the boys' bedroom and the child workspace in the garage (the kids can participate nearby while Daddy woodworks or works on our car). Even so, things that are "complete" are still just ongoing works in progress, especially when I get new ideas, when toys or materials must be rotated, and when things are outgrown. Here is a brief glimpse at how we have incorporated the children in our fairly small 2 bedroom home.



The living room is one of the most used areas in our home, mainly by the children. A great way to include them in the family living space is to give them some low shelves with some items of choice. Right now, our budget is extremely tight, so we are not able purchase all of the fabulous Montessori supplies, but we are able to improvise using Montessori principles and our own ideas.
I just changed the toys on these shelves. They cater to both Bobcat and Jaguar. Shown is a wooden xylophone and a harmonica, an interchangeable teddy bear and clothing, a basket of building blocks, Autumn trees, nesting cups (Bobcat is really into these right now), a leaf shaped wooden tray holding Autumn produce (apples and pumpkins) in natural fibers, a wooden bowl with wooden eggs, a "tray" of matching animals to that of the wooden puzzle next to it (zebra, elephant, and giraffe), plus an elephant finger puppet, and lastly, a latch board.

This is the cabinet under our TV, which usually is not on. It is next to the low shelf. The top shelf has Caillou alphabet flashcards, a matching numbers game, and homemade color cards in numerous shades (actually, they are Behr paint swatches). This shelf is designated for Jaguar, hence the blue baskets (I decided to coordinate Jaguar's stuff in blue and Lynx's stuff in green). The lower shelf is Bobcat's (and Jaguar's), with a basket of rice and corn bags, and a small collection of wooden cars.

The dining room is one of the other spaces in our home that is most frequently used by us and the children. There is a drawer with a cupboard underneath off on the dining room side of the kitchen counter. The cupboard has become a semi-neat storage space for floor puzzles and board games. The other feature of the dining room is Jaguar's very own "kitchen", which is on the other end of the kitchen table.

This is a fun area for Jaguar because it promotes his independence in serving himself and others in the family. The plant on top is there to add beauty to his space, but it also is there for him to take care of (I have yet to get a small watering can). The bowl of fruit is filled with what will be eaten that day (I got this idea from another lovely home schooling Montessori mom on the internet). On the next shelf, there are a few easily pourable containers with cereal from which to choose and some smaller containers with various snacks. Below that, there are enough plates for us all, bowls, and cups. On the bottom shelf is silverware and a towel for cleaning. I would like to get a cutting board and a small pitcher, as well.

This is a book shelf set up exculsively for Jaguar and Bobcat (Lynx's book shelf is in their bedroom). There is a basket full of board books for Bobcat and on top, there are numerous library books to coincide with whatever theme we are engaged in.

The hallway has a linen closet that has sheets on the top shelves and also houses crafty supplies on the bottom shelves. This is a great tucked away place, but still very close and accessable for the children. The top shelf seen here is lined with my sheets. The second shelf down has receiving blankets (we use them in the bathroom and for other various things) and Lynx's sheets, so they are reachable for him, though he is nearly my height as it is. The storage boxes on the lower shelves are filled with craft supplies: popsicle sticks, cotton balls, beads, paint supplies, foam, puff balls, pipe cleaners, moss, fabric scraps, ribbon, tissue paper and so on. They also have numerous stamps, markers, colored pencils, crayons, paper, and old magazines and wildlife publications for cutting out images. We keep glue out in the dining/entry in a wooden desk.

In the bathroom, there are 2 large caninets that reach to the ceiling. Jaguar would complain about not being able to reach his brush, so I decided to move his and Lynx's stuff to the lower cabinet on the top shelf (the bottom one is where we store toilet paper). I simply utilized a receiving blanket to lay each of their hairbrushes (remember, Jaguar has the blue theme and Lynx, the green), their toothbrushes, toothpaste (it is Tom's of Maine Lemon Lime) and a bowl of flossers.

This is all I have done currently, but in the future I plan on maybe making a cabinet in the kitchen a place for all of their kitchen equipment, completing their room, and eventually setting up something in the garage so they can sort screws or help Daddy woodwork. The key is to make a space just for them rather than setting up your home with things that are forbidden, breakable, or dangerous. They are free little explorers and they should have access to what is in their enriching environment.