Last week, as we introduced the toddlers to many classic tales, our cooking project seemed very obvious (at least to me!): porridge with the three bears! I preferred making oatmeal, so as I read them the book, I simply substituted the word in the story. Although this dish didn’t involve any cooking on the children’s part, it did involve a lot of tasting! The wonderful mom in charge of bringing snack that day brought a variety of toppings, including dried cherries, coconut flakes, fresh strawberries and molasses. While the oatmeal was cooking with the boiling water (at a safe distance from the toddlers), we invited them to taste all the toppings to later choose what they would want in their bowl of oatmeal. The children enjoyed all the toppings but our biggest pride was to have them try molasses, since it’s a very particular taste. Most of them loved it. Once the oatmeal was ready, we asked them to tell us which toppings they wanted in their oatmeal. The majority of them ask for a mixture of all the toppings.
In an interesting turn of events, we realized that the oatmeal was still too hot to eat, just as we heard that we had a fire drill! We told the children we would do just like the three bears, go on a walk and come back when the oatmeal was just right. After the fire drill, as we walked back in, we kept asking them if they thought Goldilocks ate their oatmeal while they were out. While most shouted “No!”, while a few of them really seemed to wonder whether or not it was an actual possibility.
The Hungry Quebbie 