Spring Cooking Activities: Simple Recipes for Life Skills Practice
My students and I LOVE cooking in the classroom! Cooking is an awesome way to give your students some crucial life skills practice. I love watching my students build independence as they follow visual recipes, and it is so fun to see them try new foods! Looking to incorporate this life skill into your classroom? Read on to learn about some awesome springtime recipes!
Simple Visual Recipes
Simple Visual Recipes are picture-supported recipes and activities for cooking in the classroom. Each recipe has an ingredients and tools list, sequencing, the visual steps, a survey page, and a tool and ingredient worksheet.
In my classroom, we always cook on Fridays. Each week, I love sending our recipe and related activities home so that parents can see what we worked on. It’s a great conversation starter! Plus, they will have a copy of the visual recipe to try out at home with their children.
March and April Visual Recipes
Each monthly pack comes with four recipes. Some of the are seasonal (like a Shamrock Mix) and some are great for any time of year (like Banana Shakes). I love that because it gives me the flexibility to use different recipes when I need them!
In the March Visual Recipes pack, you will find recipes for Leprechaun Shake, English Muffin Pizza, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Shamrock Mix.
In the April Visual Recipes pack there are recipes for Rice Marshmallow Egg, Bunny Mix, Peanut Butter Squares, and Banana Shake.
Cooking is a Life Skill!
When you cook in the classroom with your students, you have the chance to target many different life skills for your students. First and foremost, cooking will help your students increase their independence! It is so amazing to see how, with practice, students start to progress to completing recipes with minimal assistance. This translates into cooking and helping out more at home!
Another benefit is helping students learn safety and hygiene rules! My students have learned that they wash their hands before we start, and we go over the rules for keeping things germ-free. When we are using different cooking tools, I teach the proper way to handle things to keep us all safe.
Finally, cooking provides opportunities to practice social skills and manners. Students need to listen to instructions and follow directions in order for the recipe to work. They must take turns and be patient while waiting to complete steps in the recipe. And, students will practice their manners when serving and trying new foods!
Cooking is truly one of my favorite parts of my classroom schedule. Ready to give Simple Visual Recipes a try? Check out this Peanut Butter and Jelly recipe for free!
Do you cook with your students? What are your favorite things to make with them? Share your ideas below!
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