Cleaning and Safety in the Kitchen

Last week with Mother Goose Time we finished up the food groups with protein.  Today we moved on to cleaning and safety in the kitchen.  During circle time I would call out a color and the girls would go around the house and "wash" things that were that color.  

We talked about how it's important to wash your hands before you eat or prepare food.  The girls used a spray bottle to wash away germ letters.  I would call out a letter for Addie and she would spray it.  For Elli I would call out a color.  After they sprayed it I would move it aside until they got rid of all the germs, then we started all over again.  I also wrote words on a chalk board that they took turns spraying and cleaning.  

The girls also made their own clean hand door hangers.  We hung them in the bathroom as a reminder to wash your hands. 

We talked about how to safely handle knives.  The girls got to practice what they learned by cutting up their own snacks.  We also talked about other things that could hurt you in the kitchen, such as the oven, blender, scissors, etc.  The girls like to help cook so we've been over kitchen safety many times, but it's always good to remind them what could be dangerous if not used properly.

The girls played oven mitt marathon.  I put one of each vegetable counter in a separate bowl on the table, the rest were dumped in a pan.  The girls had to wear an oven mitt and then run around the table, scooping out the vegetables and putting them in the corresponding bowls.  They had a lot of fun with this game, but I had a terrible time getting pictures of it since they were moving so much. Tomorrow we move on to measuring and pouring.