#381: Play With Your Food

Play with your food! Can you make a picture? A face? A mountain or volcano (mashed potatoes and gravy make a great volcano).



Make this a family activity: See what your family does with the same food.

This activity promotes creativity.

#372: Mini Pizzas

Here are some ingredient ideas for making your own pizza at home.



How to make mini pizzas:

Crust: Make your own crust from scratch or use mini-pitas or small tortillas (found in the bread aisle). You can also find pre-made crusts in the bread aisle.

Sauce: Use canned pizza sauce, salsa, alfredo sauce, or olive oil mixed with Parmesan and garlic.

Toppings: Be creative! What have you got? Cheese, olives, peppers, pineapple, olives, mushrooms, cooked chicken, salami, pepperoni, canned tuna, ground beef, pineapple, cooked potato, sausage, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, cooked noodles...

Have an adult pop your pizza in the oven at 350F or toaster oven until the cheese turns light brown around the edges. Enjoy! And watch the cheese--it might be hot!


Make this a family activity: Make supper for your family, or get everyone together to make their own pizzas!

This activity promotes culinary skills.

#355: Have a Picnic

Have a picnic.


Pack up... wait... is it still winter? Hmmm... Have an indoor picnic!

If it is cold outside, move the picnic indoors. Pack a lunch into a basket and grab a blanket. Lay the blanket out on the floor and enjoy your picnic. You won't have to worry about ants!


Make this a family activity: Have a picnic on the living room floor. It can be for supper, lunch, even breakfast!

This activity promotes fun!

#328: Candy Christmas Tree

Make a pretty, edible (that means you can eat it) Christmas tree.



You will need: a pointy ended ice cream cone, green icing, and candies.

Cover the ice cream cone with icing and stick your candies on the tree and voila! You have a yummy tree.

For icing, you can make your own, or buy premade icing in grocery stores.


Make this a family activity: Get everyone around the table, making Christmas trees.

This activity promotes creativity and tactile awareness.

#325: Cookies in a Jar

Pull out your favourite cookie recipe, a large sealer jar (you can also use a spaghetti sauce jar), some ribbon and you have a lovely gift.



1. First, make sure your recipe's dry ingredients will fit in the jar you have chosen. To do that, use your math skills. Add (on paper) up all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc.--NOT eggs, butter, etc.). What does it add up to? Swap it for water. So, if you have 3 cups of dry ingredients, pour 3 cups of water into your jar. If it fits, your dry ingredients will fit.

2. Layer the ingredients into the jar like in the picture above.

3. Put on the lid as well as some ribbon--to pretty it up.

4. Add a tag with baking instructions. Do they need to add an egg, vanilla and butter? Write that on the tag. All they will need to do is add the wet ingredients to your jar's mix and they will be ready to bake cookies!

Hint: If you don't have large sealer jars, you might be able to find some at a second hand store. Make sure you wash them before adding your ingredients.


Make this a family activity: Get help from your parents to make up these gift jars.

This activity promotes math skills.

#324: Gingerbread House

Make a gingerbread house. And eat it! (I believe that gingerbread houses should be gobbled up!)



You will need gingerbread OR graham wafer crackers (you can buy these, which is easier), royal icing (you can find a recipe here--you also might be able to buy some from a bakery or find mix in a grocery store), candies, a plate and a knife to spread the icing.

Use the icing as glue to hold pieces of graham wafer crackers (or gingerbread) together to make a house shape. Decorate it with pieces of candy.

Take a picture and then eat it!

Enjoy!


Make this a family activity: Build one large gingerbread house together or make small, individual houses.

This activity promotes creativity and a little bit of baking skills.

#300: Blow Bubbles in Your Drink

Grab a straw and something to drink. Blow through your straw to make bubbles. How many bubbles can you make? Can you make the bubbles come all the way up to the top of your glass?



Hint: Milk makes great bubbles.


Make this a family activity: Give everyone a straw and blow crazy bubbles.

This activity promotes breath control.

#288: Slurp Noodles

Yummy noodles. Slurp up some long, cooked noodles. The more sounds you make, the better!


Make this a family activity: Everyone slurps and sucks their noodles off their plate.

This activity promotes strong cheek muscles and the giggles.

#268: Laugh Until Milk Comes Out Your Nose

Has anyone ever made you laugh while you were drinking milk and the milk came shooting out your nose?



Make this a family activity: Has everyone in you family had milk come out their nose before?

This activity promotes, well, messes and giggles.

#231: Suck Food Through Your Teeth

Suck Jell-O, pudding or soup through your teeth. Missing a tooth? Even better!



Make this a family activity: Who can suck more pudding through the spaces in their teeth?

This activity promotes tactile awareness.

#212: Make a Milkshake

Yum! An excellent way to cool down.

Mix ice cream or frozen yogurt in a blender along with a banana (for that milkshakey thickness) and a little bit of milk or soy milk. Add frozen or fresh fruit.



Ta-da! Time to slurp it up through a straw.


Make this a family activity: make enough for everyone.

This activity promotes food creation awareness.

#207: S'mores

Hey, how about some s'mores to go with yesterday's campfire?




Wait until the fire burns down to coals. Then you are ready to make s'mores.

You will need marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers (or arrowroot cookies).

Place chocolate on one cookie. If you have a grate over the firepit, place the cookie there so the chocolate gets soft. Roast your marshmallow until it is warm and puffy. Place the marshmallow on top of the chocolate and add another cookie on top, making a sandwich. Watch out! They are hot and very messy! (And super-yummy!)

You don’t always need a campfire to make these yummy treats. Try this at-home microwave s'more method. Put a cookie or cracker on a plate and place chocolate on top. Place a marshmallow on top of the chocolate. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds until the marshmallow starts to get puffy. Take it out of the microwave and add another cracker or cookie on top. Push down lightly. Let it cool and enjoy.

Careful! They can be very hot.


Make this a family activity: everyone gather round and make a s'more!

This activity promotes patience--waiting for the marshmallow to roast can feel like forever. :)

#201: Homemade Popsicles

Make a healthy, homemade popsicle treat to cool you off.

If you don’t have popsicle molds, you can use used mini-yogurt containers or ice cube trays (that will make mini popsicles--use toothpicks for sticks).


Pour your chosen juice into your container, add a popsicle stick and freeze for a few hours. To make it more interesting, add some fresh fruit.


Make this a family activity: Get the whole family together to make treats.

This activity promotes food creation awareness and promotes healthy treat alternatives.

#174: Super-Easy Ice Cream

To make one serving of super-easy ice cream you will need:

Mix together in a small zip top bag:
125 mL (½ cup) half-and-half cream
1 mL (¼ tsp) vanilla
15 mL (1 tbsp) white granulated sugar
Press air out of the bag and seal it.

Mix together in a large zip top bag:
ice (enough to half fill a large zip top bag)
30 mL (2 tbsp) coarse salt



Stir the salt so it coats the ice. Put the small bag in the big bag. Squeeze the air out of the large bag and seal it. Jiggle, squeeze and toss the bag for 10 minutes. Brrrrr…you might need your winter gloves!

Ta-da! Soft ice-cream!


Make it a family activity: Make enough for everyone in the family and take turns jiggling the ice cream.

This activity promotes food creation awareness as well as learning about the freezing process.

#137: Eat Something New

Try something you haven't eaten before. How about squid? Jackfruit? Okra? Dragonfruit? Eggplant? Chocolate covered grasshoppers? Maybe it is something more common like guacamole or olives. Pop it in your mouth and see if you have a new favourite. (Need some ideas? Try this site.)




How about a food you don't like? Give it a try, maybe your tastes have changed and you like it now.


Make this a family activity: Everyone picks something they want to try and make a whole meal out of wonderful, new foods.

This activity promotes exploring with your senses/taste buds and expanding your culinary tastes.

#56: Eat with Chopsticks

Try eating your next meal with chopsticks. If you aren't used to it, it can be tricky. (And fun!)

In countries like China and Japan, people eat with chopsticks instead of forks. Once you learn how to use them, it's easy! It is believed that chopsticks have been around longer than the fork.

Using chopsticks in your left hand (even if you are left-handed) is considered to be rude.

This activity promotes fine motor skills and ethnic awareness.

#46: Make a Sundae

It doesn't have to be hot out--or Sunday--to make a delicious sundae!

Scoop some ice cream into a bowl, sprinkle it with your favourite toppings and voila! A yummy sundae.


Topping ideas: nuts, sprinkles, candies like Smarties or M&Ms, cherries, blueberries, or other fruit (add bananas to make a banana split!), and of course, syrup.


This activity promotes creativity and culinary (cooking) skills.

#3: Eat by Candlelight

Convince your family to gather around the supper table tonight, turn off the lights and eat supper in the glow of candlelight.

Safety First: Have an adult light the candles--you can blow them out when everyone is done supper.

This activity promotes family bonding and creates a nice memory of an activity done together--it makes the everyday activity special and memorable. :)