Cooking with Books ~ a fun way to have a kids cooking class! -

Compass Classroom Premium Membership free for one month

[Today we have a guest post called Cooking with Books from homeschool mom of 2, Naomi Bieda, who loves reading and home cooking!]

Cooking with Books

I have learned a lot in my 10 years of homeschooling…one important lesson I have learned is that kids love to eat and most kids love to cook! It may have been one of the biggest learning curves I had as a new homeschooling Mom is how much more cooking was involved in this new endeavor.

I joined a local co-op our 2nd year of homeschooling and decided (or maybe was softly encouraged!) to teach a cooking class. Since I have always loved to cook even as a young child, and reading is also a passion, I combined the two and came up with a class called “Cooking With Books!” I would read a story at the beginning of class and then we would cook or bake something we read about.

Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.

Strawberry Shortcakes with Cook-A-Doodle-Doo

One of my absolute favorite children’s book is entitled Cook-A-Doodle-Doo! and it was definitely the favorite book of the class but not necessarily the favorite meal (I will tell you the favorite meal though later!)

In this book, The Little Red Hen’s grandson decides he needs to quit settling for food and start cooking. The recipe the barnyard animals make is Strawberry Shortcake so we made the fast version in our class since I only had one hour to read and bake/cook. The children were able to cut up strawberries as part of learning to work safely with knives.

After we were done eating our creation, I went around filling their mouths with whipped topping I had purchased in a can as requested. They absolutely loved this!

Tacos with Dragons Love Tacos

Another favorite was Dragons Love Tacos where we made tacos that day. The children learned to shred cheese and took turns stirring the ground beef. If there was measuring involved, I made sure to let each take a turn learning how to measure. Each child also got an opportunity to dice tomatoes and cut lettuce.

“Eggs and Bacon” with Jack and the Baked Beanstalks

There are so many books you can use that are so fun to read. Another favorite of the class was Jack and the Baked Beanstalk where we made “eggs and bacon.”

Here’s how to make them!

Melt white chocolate, place two small pretzels rods on wax paper, place a dollop of the melted white chocolate over the pretzels, then add a yellow M&M for the “yolk”. Super fun!

Thanksgiving Food with Cranberry Thanksgiving

At Thanksgiving time, we read a book about Thanksgiving. Any book will do, but here are two great ones: Cranberry Thanksgiving by Devlin and An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Alcott.

I had cooked a turkey breast at home which I brought to the class, but the children made mashed potatoes, corn, Stove Top stuffing, and canned cranberry sauce. That was their favorite meal, and one boy even stated “It’s the best Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever had!”

I hope this has inspired you to give this idea a try. Have you done Cooking with Books with some other books or recipes? Be sure to share in a comment below.

Free Knife Skills Class for “Cooking with Books”

Click here for the free Knife Skills Class that would go perfectly when you’re doing your cooking with books activities!

If you want to go even further in learning to cook with your kids, you might enjoy the Kids Cook Real Food ecourse!

Elementary Homeschool Giveaway:

(Update: Giveaway is now over.)

Homeschooling is a journey. It can be a difficult one at times, but it is also a rewarding one. If you’re entering (or in the thick of) the Elementary years, you might be looking for some wonderful learning materials to inspire and encourage learning in your kids. If so, then this giveaway is for you!

Check out this AMAZING Prize package!

	Mastering Handwriting at Any Level from In All You Do includes over 150 pages of printable practice pages. Students will learn manuscript/print and cursive at the same time. This new curriculum takes children from prewriting drills before jumping in to letters.
	Bricks Through the Ages Bundle- (10) History Units from Homeschool On the Range – Study history, from the Ancient Egyptians through World War II, with your Legos or other building blocks in this fun, cross-curricular bundle! There are 175 pages of activities, spanning ten different eras in history.
	Helia and Zea: A Study of Flowering Plants for Kids from Julie Naturally – Listen in as Helia and Zea–a sunflower and a corn plant–talk about themselves and debate whether monocots or dicots are better! Learn about plants by talking with plants in this unique plant unit study that includes experiments, culture, nature study, writing, hands-on activities, plenty of full color printables, and more!
	All About Trees Nature Study Journal Bundle from Homeschool Helper Online – With this printable All About Trees Nature Study Journal Bundle, your students will learn about: Trees Through the Year, Apple Tree Life Cycle, Tree Identification, Types of Trees, Deciduous & Evergreen Tree Characteristics, Tree Trunk Growth Rings, Tree Anatomy. and more! Designed for K to 8th grades.
	Early Frontier: Kentucky, Davy Crockett & the Battle of the Alamo from Whole Child Homeschool – This unit is FILLED with FUN, hands-on projects like: Find out what a flintlock is and how it works. Build a potato launcher. Learn about forensics and interior & exterior ballistics. Create an embroidery sampler. Build a model of the Alamo. Build a squirrel feeder. Learn new words like “varmit” and “discombobulated”. And much more! Activities & lessons for the whole family!
	Writing Through History Level 1 Manuscript Bundle from Brookdale House – All Level 1 books in this homeschool writing curriculum contain historically relevant reading selections. They are divided into four chapters: short stories, time period tales, poetry, and cultural tales. There are two writing models following each reading selection; one for copywork and the second for dictation.
	Rabbit Trails through Literature Volume 1 from Rabbit Trails Homeschool is a hands on, literature based language arts curriculum for all elementary ages. Learn different language arts concepts with amazing, award winning books as the spine of your child’s education and create a love of learning!
	Jonah & Nahum Little Fishes Bible Study from Homeschool with Moxie provides a gentle introduction to the inductive study method for your kids in grades K-4. Your kids will deep dive into key passages in these books over 36 lessons.
	Junior Scientist Science Study: Healthy Habits from Living Life and Learning – Teach your kids the importance of personal hygiene, dental health, healthy food, and healthy minds. These healthy habits will set them up for success in life. Perfect for students in kindergarten to grade 2.
	Learn Classical Music with Cartoons online course from Music in Our Homeschool – “Learn Classical Music with Cartoons” is one of the most fun and accessible music appreciation courses ever written! Inside are 37 separate composer studies with music to listen to–by cartoon–which range from the very vintage (1931!) to the very modern. Every lesson also contains an optional movement activity to get the kids moving and off the couch.
	Ultimate Kindergarten Bundle from Some Call It Destiny is comprised of six different workbooks focusing on skills learned in kindergarten. Kids will enjoy the fun animal themes. Use them to teach, refresh, or reinforce concepts.
	K-2 Summer Power Hour Bundle (Math Centers!) from Create Your Homeschool is perfect for keeping math skills fresh throughout the summer! This bundle is geared towards students in Kindergarten through Second Grade and covers topics such as: telling time, counting coins, comparing values, and more! Each section uses hands-on activities that are fun and engaging to keep summer learning exciting, which helps the transition from summer break to fall learning quick and smooth for everyone!

Learn more about each of the 2022 Elementary Homeschool Giveaway Sponsors

This giveaway wouldn’t be possible without our amazing sponsors! We encourage you to visit their site and take a look around at all their wonderful products perfect for homeschoolers!

Thanks to these amazing bloggers and brands that love supporting the homeschool community, we’re giving away more than $330 in Elementary Aged prizes!