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Life is too short to eat bad food! Sharing great recipes, farm life, stories and photography from our Northern California dairy farm.

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December 4, 2010

Cooking with the Kids & Teaching Knife Safety

Yesterday was my bi-monthly visit to Bryce's school to teach the K-1 class cooking.  Bryce Loves fruit and would probably be entirely happy if I allowed him to live off of fruit, raw veggies and meat, so at his request, we prepared Fruit Skewers in cooking class.  I also thought this would be a perfect opportunity to teach the kids about knife safety in the kitchen.

I brought in pineapple, kiwi, bananas, oranges, strawberries, cantaloupe, and dried apricot and marshmallows just to mix it up a bit. 

Knife safety tips
#1  Always cut away from your body with the sharp edge facing away from you.
#2 When chopping or cutting food, go slowly and hold the food with your fingers curled under.
#3  Always use a cutting board so the knife does not cut the table or counter top, plus the slick surface of a table could cause the knife to slip.
#4  Keep the knife blade pointing away from other people.
#5  Always make sure to get an adults permission before using a knife to cut anything.

With all that said, the kids were chopping machines!  Very proficient.  They also felt very responsible - being allowed to use a knife.














After the chopping was complete, they began to skewer their fruit and marshmallows.














{the 2 year old in the photo who was visiting, was not allowed to use a knife, but she was allowed to skewer and eat}













We melted some chocolate in the microwave, poured it into individual cups and they began to dip away! 


















Oh, and Bryce also would live off of chocolate if I allowed it also:)









Happy Saturday!

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4 comments:

Magic of Spice said...

Oh fun that must have been...they look quite pleased :) Great tips!

Michelle (What's Cooking with Kids) said...

Cooking with kids is such a great way to instill good eating habits :-) Looks like a really fun activity!

The Wife of a Dairyman said...

@Michelle, you're absolutely right. And they are so much more into trying new things when they cook it themselves:)

Anonymous said...

I love to hear stories about teachers doing what's right for the students as well as mother to children even when it's hard and takes personal sacrifice! Reminds me there are people in this world that care about helping each other and that together we can make things happen. Please keep doing this with your students! You are making a difference!
Culinary Arts Schools