Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Gingerbread Toast

This time of year when your usual level of energy is a little low
it's a good idea to change plans rather than getting yourself any
lower. 
Which meant, for me, deciding not to make gingerbread cookies
this week but substitute making toast that looked and smelled like
gingerbread.
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Making toast has to be one of the easiest foods that we can teach
our children to make. 
It’s relatively safe as long as they are cautious about not touching
the top of the toaster – that’s where the teaching comes in.
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Each time we make toast I encourage the children to make it themselves. 
I talk them through each step, if needed, and talk about safety. 
I provide utensils that are easy to use and harmless.
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If help is needed with the spreading then I do it with them,
hand over hand, instead of taking over.
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I encourage them to cut out their own shapes and give them
a choice of what size they would like to use.
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Because some children do not like to eat the crust we called it the
gingerbread man’s house.  That seemed to interest them and there was
less crust in the garbage can.
IMG_1696 IMG_1697
Some decided to decorate their gingerbread toast with our snack items,
like cheerios, craisins and carrot sticks.
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While others were quite happy to jump right in and bite a body part off.
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For the wonderful smell we used a cinnamon spread. 
It is fairly soft so easy to spread.