One easy cooking activity for children is preparing green beans for snack. The first step is to top and tail the beans, which is a great way to teach self control as children need to resist the urge to cut a large amount off each end, and instead they just need to cut a little bit.
Snack time, steamed green beans, sauteed bok choy and kale chips
The prep table
Topping and tailing the beans
Beans and kale prepared side by side
Steaming beans
The math teaching can then extend to preparing the beans for cooking. Any of the beans that were too big, needed to be cut in half before they were cooked. This lead to the children assessing the various sizes of the top and tailed beans, and then deciding if they needed to be cut through the middle.
Green Beans Recipe
Green beans, or any fresh beans in pods – purple, yellow, spotted.
Steamer, electric or sauce pan with steaming basket
Nutritional yeast or other seasonings
- Cut tops and tails off the beans then cut into snack sized portions.
- Steam the beans for 10 minutes, or until softened and ready to eat
- Sprinkle with nutritional yeast or other seasonings and serve.