Which cooking recipe can i involve 20 pre-schoolers in?

I work in a Nursery and need to find a 'hands on' cooking activity for 3 to 5 years olds

i also work in a pre school and when i do cold cookery activities i get some plain biscuits like rich tea but any plain biscuits will work then make some icing sugar and buy some sweets eg strawberry laces and dolly mixture or any sweets u want to use then just make faces on the biscuits its a really simple idea but all kids love it or u could try doing something healthy like the biscuits but use crackers and instead of icing sugar use cheese spread then for the face use tomatoes for the eyes a piece of carrot for the mouth and a little piece of cucumber for the nose and small pieces of lettuce for the hair but u can also come up with simple ideas of ur own it dosent matter how simple ur ideas are all kids just love to make something they have made themselves that they are proud of hope this helps good luck it will be rewarding whatever you do

How much cooking do you really want to do with a bunch of pre-schoolers ?!!! I did a really cool candy recipe with my daughter many years ago when she was in preschool. It has sort of been patented by her since but I think I can still tell you how to do it.

Basically we melted down White chocolate with trail mix and cereal and spread it out onto a cookie sheet. The childreen had a great time and I was suddenly Father of the Year. They still talk about it today almost 18 years later.

You can melt any kind of chocolate down and add anything to it that makes sense.

How about making bread - its very hands on and they can watch the dough rise safely.

Ask the school kitchens if they can bake the bread after the lesson and give it back to the kids on their next lesson.

how about biscuits or fairy cakes.....I don't have the recipe but I'm sure it's easy. my 7 year old loves helping her mother bake cakes....mixing measuring and waiting for results....make sure they wash up after.

I would say lasagna,,, as long as the pasta is precooked and chilled,, and the burger/sauce is the same way, you should be all set. My 3 and 4 year olds love to help me with this, it is super hands on. They love spreading the sauce, and burger, he pasta, the mozz. cheese and even the ricotta!!! (if $ is an issue sub. cottage cheese in place of ricotta). Good luck.

Something which you don't necessarily intend to eat afterwards! ;)

Dough shapes are good - bake in the oven and then varnish them for display.

Let them decorate little sponge cakes.

chocoalte krispie cakes, its quick,easy and messy, they will love it!

Mini pizzas. cut up a load of veg and meat and let them do their own toppings. Then you put them in the oven for them. Nice, quick and easy

You could prebake some sugar cookies a little larger than usual and bring in tubs of icing and lots of sprinkles and decorations and let each child decorate their own cookie. We did that with a preschool classes and they loved it.

When I was a helper in my daughter's kindergarten class, we made playdoh together. They helped with ingredients, I did the actual cooking. Then then kneaded it after it had cooled.

There is also a recipe for an edible playdoh (honey, powdered milk, peanut butter) that can be made without needing any heat.

Short pasry biscuits, and scones or butterfly cakes.all very elemntary and you can put fruit or icing faces on them

At that age try to involve "Healthy food " stay away from sugar etc...So try Fruit and a Mixed leaf salad....A high sugar content to a child with ADHD is not a good thing.... ( They can become very "Hypo" ) ....and you may well be in trouble with the child's parents..!..OK you may not have a child in your nursery with ADHD , But just in case , air on the side of caution.

Good Luck.

Fruit salad is great. If you really want them using the stove cooking... making gingerbread man is great they love it. It is easy to have them making the dough. Get a cookie cutter to make the men and put it in the strove. Then have them decorate it.!.

You mustn't cook pre-schoolers! You'll get into trouble.

Coconut Ice. Made this with my children when they were small. Doesn't actually involve cooking but there is a lot of mixing. The food colouring is cochineal so you can have a white block and a pink one.

340g desiccated coconut

340g icing sugar

400g tin of condensed milk

Optional food colouring

Simple and inexpensive. Just be careful with the cochineal!!!

Make yorkshire pudding batter, pre heat cooking trays and pour in sufficient mixture to cover the toddler.

Bake in a pre heated hot oven for thirty minutes for excellent "Toddler-in-the-Hole"

Chocolate chip cookies! Children learn and remember experiences when they are able to touch the object (get their hands gooey). Good luck!

Anzac biscuits, you might have to find an Aussie website though, my daughters preschool had them 4 Aussie day!

Rich tea biscuits, white icing and coloured icing for faces.

How about design you own pizza topping? At least its savoury rather than sugar and you can use part-cooked dough bases and then they can experiment with different flavours and eat then after you've cooked them for their lunch!Think of the toppings available from a pizza restaurant-the choice is endless...