Tag Archives: #snacktime

Baking, Snack, Special Event

Mini Master Chefs

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This week, we were very lucky to have Beth visit us from East Renfrewshire Council. Beth is rolling out a fantastic new program called Mini Master Chefs, which encourages children to get involved in preparing healthy snacks at nursery using a variety of vegetables. It’s a wonderful initiative to help little ones enjoy an extra portion of veggies in a fun and interactive way!

Take a look at what we’ve been up to so far:

Morning Session

A small group of children had the chance to take part in a sensory “touch and taste” session, exploring a range of different vegetables. The children were introduced to some new veggies they hadn’t seen before, like cauliflower. We discussed their textures, smells, and how they grow.

Next, the children had the opportunity to chop the vegetables. Beth taught us how to use knives safely, showing us two new cutting techniques: the bridge hold and the claw hold.

Taking turns to use our new knife skills Everyone took a turn to chop the vegetables. Once they were chopped, it was time for a taste test! One child said, “I like the mushrooms.” Another shared, “I love tomatoes,” while someone else commented, “The onion is spicy.”

Afternoon Session

In the afternoon, we made some delicious carrot flapjacks. Beth guided us through the preparation, and the children had another sensory experience, exploring the carrot peelings and oats. We discussed how they smelled and felt as part of the activity.

 

One child remarked, “The carrots are like worms,” while another said, “It tickles my fingers.”

Once the flapjacks were ready, the children got to enjoy them as part of their afternoon snack.

It has been such a fantastic experience for the children, and we can’t wait to try out more activities with our Mini Master Chefs later in the week.

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Snack, Social Studies

Scrumptious Snack

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Here at Cart Mill Family Centre our children are very independent when having their snacks. Our children are encouraged to show their independence skills from start to finish during the duration of the snack experience.

First the children choose what they would like to have for snack. Today we chose apples, bananas and cucumbers.
Our children are very clever and they help to prepare the snack for everyone by cutting it up.

We are very careful of our fingers when using the knife to cut the fruit.

Our children from 2-5 all have the opportunity to help prepare snack. By encouraging independence and using our fine manipulative skills to cut the snack is a great learning opportunity for our children to gain confidence from a young age.

We used different tools to help us prepare snack such as the apple corer. We had to push down hard. It was quite tricky at first.


We filled up the water and milk jugs and set up our table ready to invite our friends to join us for snack. We know the importance of washing our hands before we eat.

We collect our own cups and plates from the trolley before choosing our seat.

Our snack table is all self service and is a free flow snack which allows children to come as they please and have a leisurely snack experience which develops our social skills as we sit together having conversations with our peers.

Using the tongs helps our fine manipulative skills while saving on the germs.


We pour our own drinks and choose what we want. If some our younger children need help our older ones are always on hand to help. Once we finish our snack we take our plate and cup over to the skink to rinse it and pop it in the dish rack for the staff to help with the washing dishes.


We are very clever here at Cart Mill. The children have picked this routine up very quickly with our younger children now showing these skills and are enjoying the chance to become independent.