Now I Eat My ABC’s: Cooking
and Literacy Connections
Presented by:
Alison Pascone
Pierce County Library System
(253) 548-3417
apascone@piercecountylibrary.org
When children read a recipe, they are learning…
 That pictures read from top to bottom and from left to right, just like words
o Order
o Sequence
 About comprehension or understanding what they see or read
o In cooking, they follow a recipe by looking at the pictures and doing
what they see in these pictures
o This understanding what they see will later help them as readers in
being able to understand the words they read
 To connect pictures with words
o Show them the written recipe that the pictures came from
 To follow directions…
o Which will later help them in all areas of school
Book and Cook Connections
The Three Bears – versions by Jan Brett, Paul Galdone, Byron Barton, Margaret Willey, etc.
Read any or all versions of this story aloud with children and then cook the three bears’
porridge. One porridge recipe is included below:
Three Bears Porridge –
6 cups water, divided
¼ cup walnuts - optional
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup almonds - optional
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats
2 Tablespoons warm water
(better to use quick kind with children)
2 Tablespoons honey
Combine the nuts, brown sugar, and honey and blend on high in a blender until combined. Stir
this mixture into the oatmeal at the end. If you have children with nut allergies, you can just
combine and stir the brown sugar and honey into the oatmeal.
The Little Red Hen – versions by Paul Galdone, Byron Barton, Harriet Ziefert, Jerry Pinkney, etc.
After reading this story aloud, have children mix ingredients for bread. If you have a bread
machine, this works great. Or bake the bread in the oven, the old fashioned way! Many yeast
bread recipes are very forgiving and allow for a lot of mixing and kneading – kneading is a really
fun activity for young children and is great for developing the small hand muscles for later
writing.
Recipe – Bread in a Bag
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup hot water (125 to 130 degrees F)
1 package Fleischman’s RapidRise Yeast
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1 gallon heavy duty Ziploc freezer bag
Into the Ziploc bag, put and mix 1 cup all purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and dry milk. Add hot
water and oil to dry ingredients. Reseal bag. Mix by working bag with fingers. Add in whole
wheat flour; reseal bag and mix thoroughly. Gradually add enough remaining all purpose flour
to make stiff dough that pulls away from the bag.
On floured surface, knead dough 2-4 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover with towel; rest
for 10 minutes. Roll dough into 12 X 7 inch rectangle. Place in oiled 9 X 13 inch loaf pan. Cover
with towel and place in a warm, dry place. Let the dough rise for 20 minutes or until double in
size. Bake bread at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until done.
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola – pancake recipe included
Pancakes, Pancakes! By Eric Carle
Make pancakes. Let children combine ingredients. If you are comfortable having them pour
the batter into the pan, let them do this as well. They can watch while the pancakes are
cooking. For fun, add blueberries, bananas, or chocolate chips.
Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson
 Make applesauce using the recipe from this book
 Concept of Alike and Different – bring in at least 4 or 5 different types of apples and let
children taste them and talk about their differences
The Teddy Bear’s Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy – Read this book to the class and then make some
fun picnic food together. Here’s one idea:
Raspberry Sun Tea
1 gallon glass container or jar
20 mint leaves
12 herbal tea bags
1 pint raspberries
3 quarts cold water
Place rinsed mint leaves and raspberries in jar. Pour cold water into jar and add the tea bags.
Cover tightly. Place the jar in the sunlight. Let it sit for at least a day, if not two. Pour the tea
through a strainer into a pitcher and serve with ice!
You could also make homemade lemonade!
Stone Soup by John J. Muth, Ann McGovern, Marcia Brown
Using any of these books (it would be fun to read all of them for variation of story), have the
children make their own stone soup as a follow up activity to the story. Everyone helps make it,
everyone contributes something to the soup pot.
Stone Soup – basic recipe
One large stone
6-8 cups water or vegetable broth
Variety of vegetables that children can chop
Noodles or rice.
Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic, grated parmesan cheese, etc.).
*After scrubbing the large stone, put it in a pot of boiling water to cook separately while you
cook the rest of the soup. You can put it in at the end or just pretend to put it in…
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle – read this popular story aloud together and let
children contribute their own part to building a caterpillar together. Not only is this a tasty
snack but it’s another great way to encourage children to work together.
The Very Tasty Caterpillar
Ingredients:
English muffins
2 white button mushrooms, sliced
Sauce of your choice
Mozzarella cheese (cut into slices)
Pizza toppings (peppers, olives, pepperoni, etc.)
Let children make their own pizza with sauce, cheese, and any toppings they like. Put pizzas
together to make a long caterpillar and slice the two mushrooms to make caterpillar feet. Bake
at around 400 degrees until cheese is melted and muffins are crispy. Take a picture of the
caterpillar and then dig in! From the Disney’s Family Fun web site http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/cooking-with-kids/making-food-fun/
Activities for Encouraging Families to Cook with Their Children
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Every time a child cooks something from a recipe at school, send it home
o They are now the experts on this recipe and can share it with their family
Let parents know that they can include their children in meal preparation
o Give them a specific task like washing the veggies or fruit
Let children also help make the grocery list
 Ask them “What do we need? Do we have enough eggs, bread, milk,
etc.?” Let them check for you.
 They can also create their own picture grocery list
Mealtimes are a wonderful opportunity to have conversations with children
o Encourage parents to use meals as a time to ask children about their day, etc.
Class Recipe Book
Encourage families to bring snacks to class. You can provide them with a list of snack
possibilities to choose from or let them make their own snack. This wouldn’t need to be done
very often but once every few months per family, as the families can rotate snack duty! Take a
picture of the child whose family brought in the snack standing next to the snack table. Create
a simple recipe to go next to the picture of the child with their snack. Put this together into a
book to give to all families at the end of the year. Not only is it a great memory book for
children, it is also a cookbook for families!
Tasting Activities
Tasting Table
Set up a table in your room with one or two types of food for children to taste. Include food
from all of your children’s cultures at this table.
 Try introducing foods in different physical states at the same time
o Yogurt and frozen yogurt are a good example of this
o Cold cheese sandwich and grilled cheese sandwich
 Offer 2-3 foods at a time for the purpose of making comparisons
o 2-3 foods from the same food group
o Foods of a similar shape
o Foods with similar colors
o Foods that grow underground
o Foods that cool you off on a hot day
 Ask questions that get them describing what they’re eating and
comparing and contrasting it with other foods
 Science Activity: hypothesize about what something will taste like
based on its look and smell. Compare predictions with reality. Make
graph with children, charting who liked what.
Orange Juice Taste Test
Invite children to prepare and compare orange juice from concentrate versus fresh squeezed
orange juice and hold a taste test, comparing the two. Create a chart showing who preferred
which juice and talk about it afterwards with the children. Ask them why they preferred one
type of orange juice to another…
 Try this experiment with other types of fruit juice (lemonade, limeade, grapefruit juice)
 Try this same experiment with different types of apples
o Buy a variety of apples: Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, etc. and let the
children try them at snack time
 Which ones did they like the best? Why?
 How do the apples taste different from each other?
Popcorn Types
Using an air popper, make several batches of popcorn. When the popcorn has cooled off, have
the children split the popcorn up into several zip loc bags. Pour melted butter into each bag.
Sprinkle a dry ingredient into the bags, close the top, and have your children shake it.
Some choices for dry ingredients are Cinnamon, sugar, dry ranch, dry cheese, garlic, etc.
Have your children choose which one they like best and graph the results.
Recipes
Bagel Faces
Recipe idea came from Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen
½ bagel per child
Spreadable cream cheese
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Carrot, sliced
Sprouts for hair (optional)
Olives for eyes (optional)
Green pepper for ears (optional)
Set out the bagels, cream cheese, and veggies in bowls. Let the children practice spreading
cream cheese on their own bagels. Children can be as creative as they like in decorating their
veggie bagel faces. Put out as many (or few) types of veggies as you like! *If you would rather,
use fruit instead – blueberries, raspberries, grapes, oranges, bananas, apples, raisins, etc. would
all make fun possibilities for faces.
Seals on the Bus
Graham crackers
Mini-sandwich cookies
Frosting, cream cheese, or jam
Animal crackers
Spread cheese, jam, or frosting onto graham cracker. Put cookies on for wheels. Put animal
crackers on the bus! This is a fun snack to make after reading the book The Seals on the Bus by
Lenny Hort.
Microwave Applesauce
Recipe idea came from Mommy’s Little Helper Cookbook by Karen Brown
6-8 large apples
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons honey
cinnamon to taste
Peel apples and slice into large chunks. Place pieces into a microwave safe bowl. Pour water
over apples. Add lemon juice and honey. Stir the mixture. Cover the bowl and place in the
microwave. Cook 4 minutes on high. Check the apples; if they are not yet mushy, cook for
another minute. Use a potato masher to mash the apples. Spoon apples into serving dishes.
Sprinkle each with cinnamon and eat!
Sentence Sandwiches
Recipe idea came from Snacktivities! by MaryAnn F. Kohl
Fruit jelly
Sliced bread
Alphabet cereal or cookies
Place a slice of bread on each plate. Spread the fruit jelly on each slice of bread. Give children
a handful of cereal/cookies to work with. Let them have fun putting the letters on their bread.
If they’re old enough, they can make words or their name.
Carrot-Cheese-Apple Rollups
Recipe idea came from Mommy’s Little Helper by Karen Brown
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup grated carrot
1 ½ cups grated apple
2 Tablespoons honey (or more!)
4-6 tortillas
Stir together the cheese, carrots, apples, and honey. Lay tortillas out flat. Spoon out some
filling onto each tortilla. Roll up tortillas. You can eat right away or you can wrap the tortillas
and refrigerate them for20-30 minutes.
*A fun idea for children: use tortillas instead of bread for all your favorite sandwiches
(peanut butter and jelly, bacon-lettuce-tomato, etc.)
Snow White Snowflake
Recipe idea came from Snacktivities! by MaryAnn F. Kohl
1 tortilla per child
Grated mozzarella cheese (or any white cheese like Muenster, Monterrey Jack, or White
Cheddar)
Fold the tortilla in half and in half again. Cut out shapes and designs from the folded edges of
the tortilla like you would paper when making a snowflake. Open the tortilla and place it flat on
a baking sheet. Carefully sprinkle with cheese, trying to stay away from the designs. Place the
baking sheet under the broiler or in the toaster oven just until cheese begins to bubble.
Remove from oven and let it cool a few minutes. Enjoy!
Number Salad
Recipe idea came from Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen
1 handful of coconut
2 Tablespoons orange juice concentrate
3 orange pieces
4 apple slices
5 cubes of cheese
6 slices of banana
7 pieces of melon (cantaloupe, honeydew)
8 grapes
stir 9 times
10 – EAT!
Munchable Monster Toast
1 cup water
4 colors food coloring
6 slices bread
Butter
Prepare colorful water by adding several drops of food coloring to ¼ cup water. Toast bread
slices. Paint wild monster faces on toast with food coloring mixture. Butter toast and munch
your monsters! You could use milk instead of water if you like and you could re-toast the bread
before buttering and eating.
Breakfast Banana Split – from Kids a Cookin’ web site
1 small banana per child
½ cup favorite cereal
½ cup yogurt (any flavor) or cottage cheese
1 teaspoon honey
½ cup pineapple tidbits
Maraschino cherries, optional
Cut banana in half lengthwise and place in cereal bowl or ice cream dish. Sprinkle cereal
over banana, spoon yogurt over this, drizzle honey over the top of all. Decorate with pineapple,
cherries, and more ceral.
Frozen Fruit Cups
3 bananas
3 containers any flavor yogurt
1 10-ounce package frozen strawberries, thawed
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
Line 18 muffin-tin cups with paper baking cups. Mash or dice bananas and place in mixing
bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon into muffin tin cups and freeze at least 3 hours. Let
stand 10 minutes at least before serving.
Other Recipes - Play Doughs and GAK
*Note: most of these recipes, although containing many edible ingredients, are not actually
edible. The recipes that are edible are indicated in the recipe name – “Edible Cream Cheese
Playdough”
Edible Cream Cheese Dough
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
½ cup nonfat dry milk
1 Tablespoon honey
Crackers or bread slices
Combine cream cheese, milk, and honey in a bowl and mix until well blended. Create shapes on
wax paper. These shapes can then be eaten on crackers or bread slices OR eaten with fruit or
veggies for a snack.
Edible Candy Playdough
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 pound box of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring, optional
Mix all the ingredients except the powdered sugar. When all is combined, add in the powdered
sugar. Knead dough until smooth. Play and eat!
Oatmeal Playdough
1 cup flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup water
Mix ingredients together and children can mold and mix with the dough. Try adding in some
cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or another spice for a fun scent.
Applesauce and Cinnamon Playdough
1 cup applesauce
1 cup cinnamon
OR equal parts applesauce and cinnamon
Mix applesauce and cinnamon into a nice clay consistency. If it’s too sticky, add a little more
cinnamon or flour. This dough is fun to create shapes and designs with using cookie cutters.
Put them in a warm, dry space to dry – this will take a few days.
GAK
Equal parts cornstarch and water
(1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup water)
5-7 drops food coloring (optional)
Glitter (also optional but fun!)
Mix water and food coloring together. Slowly add cornstarch to water and food coloring mixture. Do
not stir! Let the mixture stand for 2-3 minutes.
Gak is fascinating because it appears as both a liquid and a solid – changing from one to the other.
Rhymes and Songs
Cup of Tea
Here’s a cup
And here’s a cup
And here’s a pot of tea
Pour a cup,
And pour a cup,
And have some tea with me!
Bear Eats Honey
A bear eats honey
He thinks it’s yummy
In his tummy
But the bees don’t think it’s funny
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!
Making Pizza
Stretch the dough,
Spread the sauce,
Sprinkle on some cheese,
Cook the pizza,
Cut the pizza,
I’ll have a big slice, please!
Lemon Tree
Way up high in the lemon tree,
One little lemon smiled at me,
So, I shook that tree with
all of my power!
Down came a lemon…
Oooh, it was sour.
Count down until there are no
lemons left on the tree
Five Fat Peas
Five fat peas in a pea-pod pressed
One grew, two grew,
So did all the rest.
They grew and they grew
And did not stop,
Until one day that pea-pod
POPPED!
Let’s Go to the Market
by Nancy Stewart
Let’s go to the market
Let’s go to the store
We can buy some…
Hold up and name any food item
And maybe a few things more!
Repeat with more food items.
Here is Pumpkin Happy
Here is pumpkin happy
Here is pumpkin sad
Here is pumpkin frightened
Here is pumpkin mad
But the way I like him best is this
And I will tell you why
It’s when he’s baked into the pieces of
A pumpkin pie!
Sticky Bubblegum
Sticky, sticky, sticky
Bubblegum, bubblegum, bubblegum,
Sticky, sticky, sticky
Bubblegum,
Sticking my hands together!
Uh-oh – they’re stuck
Let’s pull ‘em apart…Ready?
1, 2, 3…….
Repeat with sticking my hands to my knees, the
floor, my head, etc.
Food Book List
Baby Board Books:
Vegetables by Sara Anderson
Fruit by Sara Anderson
Colors + Flavors = Colores + Sabores by Jill Hartley
Books for Toddlers:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola
Warthogs in the Kitchen by Pamela Duncan Edwards
The Teddy Bear’s Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
Books for Preschoolers:
Making Minestrone by Stella Blackstone and Nan Brooks
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt
How are you Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
My Garden by Kevin Henkes
The Pizza That we Made by Joan Holub
The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins
Soup Day by Melissa Iwai
Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise by Leo Landry
Pickin’ Peas by Margaret Read MacDonald
Bee Bim-Bop! By Linda Sue Park
Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
The Cake that Mack Ate by Rose Robart
Rah, rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre
Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig
The Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
Books for Early Elementary School:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
I Will Never not ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming
All in Just One Cookie by Susan E. Goodman
How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box and Other Wonders of Tzedakah by
Linda Heller
The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban
Horace and Morris say Cheese (Which Makes Dolores Sneeze) by James Howe
Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McClosky
Where Does Food Come From? by Shelley Rotner
Saturday Sancocho by Leyla Torres
Resource Books
Do Carrots Make You See Better? by Julie Appleton, Nadine McCrea, and Carla Patterson
The Cooking Book: Fostering Young Children’s Learning and Delight by Laura J. Colker
The Math Chef by Joan D’Amico and Karen Eich Drummond
Cup Cooking by Barbara Johnson
Snacktivities! by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter
Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter
Articles and Web Sites:
Bon Appetit! by Heidi Sivers Boyce (Scholastic Parent and Child)
Young Children (YC)
-Smart School Snacks: a Comprehensive Preschool Nutrition Program by Penny Bernath
and Wendi Masi
-The Food Friends: Encouraging Preschoolers to Try New Food by Laura Bellows and
Jennifer Anderson
Kids a Cookin’ - http://www.kidsacookin.org/Welcome.aspx
Preschool Education - http://www.preschooleducation.com/cmonster.shtml
Making Learning Fun - www.makinglearningfun.com
Zero to Three – www.zerotothree.org
-Health from the Start: How Feeding Nurtures Your Young Child’s Body, Heart, and Mind
Nancy Stewart Online – www.nancymusic.com
Cook Books for Children:
Mommy’s Little Helper Cookbook by Karen Brown (for preschoolers and young school age
children)
Family Fun Cooking with Kids from the Experts at Family Fun (older school age)
Holy Guacamole! And other Scrumptious Snacks by Nick Fauchald (for preschoolers and young
school age children)
Kids Cook 1-2-3: Recipes for Young Chefs Using only 3 Ingredients by Rozanne Gold
Honest Pretzels by Mollie Katzen (for cooks ages 8 and up)
Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen (for preschoolers)
Salad People by Mollie Katzen (for preschoolers)
Teddy Bears’ Picnic Cookbook by Alexandra Day and Abigail Darling
Notes
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