As part of our Design and Technology topic on healthy eating, the children turned into master chefs today! We spent the lesson practising essential food preparation techniques, including cutting, chopping, and juicing a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Exploring Different Tools and Textures:
The children experimented with different tools - including various plastic knives, metal zigzag cutters, and wooden saw choppers - to see which were best suited for different textures:
- Soft foods like bananas, pears, runner beans, grapes, and cucumbers were quick and easy to chop.
- Harder foods like carrots, new potatoes, and peppers took extra strength, control, and careful technique!
We also rolled up our sleeves and used our hands to squeeze fresh juice out of satsumas—which got delightfully messy, but yielded plenty of delicious juice!
What’s Next?
This practical session helped the children understand which equipment works best for different ingredients. Next step: designing and making our very own healthy smoothie recipes using our new skills!
Try It at Home
- Next time you are preparing dinner, invite your child to help chop soft ingredients like bananas or cucumbers using a child-friendly knife, or squeeze the juice from a fresh lemon or orange!
