Zoom Cooking with Grandparents

“What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies.” – Rudolph Giuliani

Zoom Cooking

  These times sometimes require an abundance of grandparent ingenuity, too.  Grandma Cheryl has introduced Zoom cooking to her long-distance family.  To sign up for a free Zoom go to zoom.us/sign up on your computer or ask local teens to bring over a laptop or Chromebook sign you up and show how to use it.  Then schedule a time to meet online with multiple people for Zoom Cooking. Facetime and Skype are also available. Fair warning, you will have only 40 minutes before being kicked off  Zoom unless you pay for a subscription.

Pumpkin Cookies

  Cooking something easy like pumpkin cookies is a good start.  To save time, gather all of the ingredients and cooking utensils before the Zoom, heat  the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl whisk together 2 ½ cups flour,1 teaspoon baking powder,1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl use a mixer to mix until light and fluffy: 1 stick of softened butter with 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup brown sugar.  Then add 1 ¼ cups of canned pumpkin puree, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla on medium speed.  Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. You want to keep the fluffiness. 

  Use a little scoop to drop on the cookie sheets and use a spoon to flatten slightly.  The cookie does not flatten while baking.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

  While baking you can make the frosting and catch up on the latest family news. For the frosting, cream together 8 ounces of low-fat cream cheese, room and 3 tablespoons butter, and1 teaspoon. Gradually add powdered sugar until you like the consistency. When the cookies bounce back up when touched, they are done. Ice when cool.

  Your time will probably be up for now.   You can make arrangements to call back and have pumpkin cookies and apple cider together.

Homemade Playdough

  Although it can’t be eaten, making and playing with playdough is another fun on-line activity. Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt, and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar together and place in 3-quart saucepan. Stir in 1 tablespoon cooking oil and 1 cup water tinted with food coloring. Cook and stir constantly over low to medium heat until mixture looks like dough. Remove from heat, cool, and knead. Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. 

  Spend the rest of the time reading books out loud or talking.  Next time challenge each other to make playdough animals and people while chatting. More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Sketches: Mike Nowicki

Playing and Pounding Fresh Play Clay

Time for Playdough Fun!

  About this time in winter young children need to play with something new, and fresh. And families are hoping, inexpensive, please. Like adults, children become restless, out of sorts, and don’t quite know why.  They just are! Often they are like little growly grizzly bears.

  Part of the solution may be making a very simple warm recipe of play clay (dough) and sitting with the children to play, squash, and pound, too.

Cheryl’s Homemade Dough

  This play clay (dough) recipe takes about 15 minutes to make and doesn’t dry up for months in a freezer bag or tight container. It will stay fresh even longer 

Mix It Up In About 15 Min.

in the refrigerator.

  Here it is. Children can help measure the ingredients and stir.  Place 1 cup water, ½ cup salt, 1 teaspoon or more of food coloring and 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a 3- quart saucepan with no heat. Mix well. Stir in 1 cup flour and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar. Cook and stir over medium to low heat until mixture begins to stick together. Do not allow it to become crusty on the bottom. Take out of the pan and cool slightly. Begin kneading like bread dough.

  Young children can help at each step with safety precautions. After cooling they will enjoy kneading the warm fresh dough and squishing it through their fingers.

  Kids love using all the traditional baking tools you may have around like rollers, shape cutters, cookie sheets, spoons, table knives, and cupcake pans. Hunt around the cupboards.   Sometimes the best playdough activities are those when you have nothing but playdough.

Squash and Pound

  Encourage them to pound, make snakes and sausages, and squash. It is a great tension reliever for all ages.

  Children can pound the pile of playdough with both hands, in an alternating rhythm, good for both side of the brain and the rest of their body. Show them how to roll large, medium, and small balls with both hands to developing bilateral coordination. Squash, and pound.

  They can make some pinch pots using the dominate hand. Isolate the thumb and keep the three middle fingers together to turn a big ball into a little flower pot. This exercise helps strengthen the handwriting finger position.

Be Creative!

  Children can create little 3D animals, people, and snowmen.  They love to decorate worms, snakes, and creative insects. Medium sized balls can become segmented caterpillars. They also like making cupcakes from large balls and decorating them.

  Roll out many long thin snakes to make a coil pot. Then fill with little balls for eggs, a bird, or flowers.

  Children can also make plates of food of long thin spaghetti, sausages, beans, chips, and peas. When finished, everyone can squash, pound, and store.

Sketch: Mark Nowicki   

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org live and pod casts on WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest