How to Play Cooking Games

Cooking games are an excellent way to be creative with kids in the kitchen. The best kinds of games are, of course, secretly educational. The following game will allow you to introduce kids to the ideas of measurements and fractions while also making a tasty treat to share.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring cups (various)
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats

Oatmeal Cookie Champion

1. Prep! Set out ingredients for oatmeal cookies, including a small bowl for as many children as there are to participate.

2. Measure! Fill two of the measuring cups at random with oatmeal (1c, 1/2c, 3/4c, 1/4c measuring cups will equal two and a half cups of oatmeal total, so add 1/2c after the competition).

3. Be sneaky! Secretly pour one measuring cup into each of the childrens bowls without letting them see which cup was poured. Set up each of the empty measuring cups in front of them and carefully read each of the fractions out loud.

4. Guess! The child who correctly matches his or her amount with the correct measuring cup amount gets to mix the first two ingredients together!

5. Keep going! Play another round until all of the measurements are used up.

Tips & Warnings

• For more fun, play this game with as many measuring utensils as you like (teaspoons, tablespoons...etc). The child will begin to understand the relationship of portion size to cup measurement and can move on to fractions.
• Be sure to supervise kids any time they are near kitchen and cooking items and instruct children who are old enough in appropriate fire-prevention techniques.

References

• Kids Cooking Activities
• Oatmeal Cookie Recipe