Thinking of an exciting parent-child activity for this holiday while at home? How about cooking together with your little one in conjunction with Family Meals Month?
With FairPrice’s Fantastic Foodventures, you can learn easy, nutritious recipes together with your child. Turn a hands-on cooking experience into a family adventure with plenty of learning opportunities. Cooking at home can be a great opportunity to instil numeracy skills like measuring, executive functioning skills such as planning a meal and motor skills such as scooping and mixing in kids, all while having fun in the kitchen.
Cooking at home is pocket-friendly and more nutritious – this means more bang for the buck with both money and time well-used. Rather than spending more on takeaways or ordering in, opt to stay home and spend more quality time cooking with your little ones!
Research has shown that cooking and eating together keeps family members connected, forming stronger bonds and healthier bodies. More frequent family meals have been associated with better family dynamics, a better sense of well-being and more wholesome diets! Family meals are awesome times for striking up conversations with kids and have even been associated with better grades at school.
What’s more, making a family meal isn’t difficult at all, especially with FairPrice’s Fantastic Foodventures this June school holidays.
Fantastic Foodventures at NTUC FairPrice for the Holidays
FairPrice has put together three exciting, family-friendly foodventures (or food adventures) that you can embark upon during the June school holidays! Combining exciting stories, a fun cast of characters and hands-on activities, Fantastic Foodventures offers fun-filled ideas for you to spend time bonding at home.
“Escape from Mount Teriyaki”, go on a “Journey to Lime Island” or blast off on “The Space Eggs-venture”. These are the adventures which you can embark upon with your kids, while conveying to them a deeper appreciation for food.
The three Fantastic Foodventures are told through captivating stories with easy-to-do accompanying recipes that your child can help to make. Even kids who may not be interested in cooking will be drawn into the storyline and soon be helping in the kitchen too.
Plus, the child-friendly recipes are not only nutritious but cater to the fussiest of palates too.
In “Escape from Mount Teriyaki”, Worried Carrot, Calm Corn and Panicky Peas are trapped on top of Mount Teriyaki! Will they escape as they roll their way down the slopes? We followed the steps in the story and made minced chicken rice balls, read on to find out how it went!
“Journey to Lime Island” with Cheeky Cheese, Super Prawns and Sleepy Tomato as they hop into a taco boat and sail off in search of the Magical Lime. And the big surprise in the end is a yummy prawn taco dish. There is no need to dine at any Mexican restaurant to enjoy it.
Ready for an adventure that’s out of this world? Blast off to space on an egg-venture! Playful Eggs are hit by a cinnamon asteroid and tossed about. Will Mighty Bread be able to come to the rescue in time? This is the perfect story for weekend mornings and to level up your breakfast with cinnamon French toast with fresh fruits.
With such exciting food-themed storylines, your June holiday activities are all set with these Fantastic Foodventures!
Getting Started on Your Fantastic Foodventures
We got into the Fantastic Foodventures ourselves and found that cooking together was a chance for kids to get involved in family meals and for us to share some practical life skills as well.
To start your own Fantastic Foodventures, choose from one of the three Fantastic Foodventures recipes.
After selecting the recipe, here’s the first fun challenge for your child – planning the grocery list! Sit down with your child to write out the list. Use this opportunity for him or her to practise spelling out the needed ingredients on his or her own!
This task might seem easy but focusing, copying and understanding each ingredient takes much effort in little ones.
Don’t forget to indicate portions of each ingredient required, for example, the number of packets and weight of ingredients required. These are good ways of teaching your child measurements and portions in a practical manner.
Budget It Out
Next, talk about the budget. Take the chance to practise counting and introducing concepts such as dollars and cents to your child. Explain that families of different sizes will need to budget differently. For your own family size, ask him or her to guess how much the grocery bill would amount to. This allows your child to have a better grasp of real-world prices and budgets.
Once you have made your shopping list (and checked it twice), it is time to get the ingredients.
Fun and Fruitful Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping is a treat for the senses. FairPrice supermarkets are a reliable source of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and other household needs.
Shopping with your child can also reinforce the importance of wise eating habits such as choosing a variety of food groups and eating the rainbow by selecting fruits and vegetables of different colours.
It is also a chance to teach them how to pick out healthier foods, for example, by spotting products with the “Healthier Choice” label from the Health Promotion Board.
You can also create a mini-supermarket at home by stocking your refrigerator or cupboard with the ingredients you need. Then have your child go “shopping” by identifying and picking out what’s needed.
Bond over a Cooking Session with your Child
Once you have all the ingredients you need, it is back to the kitchen and time to whip up an easy, delicious and nutritious meal with your little one!
We chose the “Escape from Mt Teriyaki” Foodventures, a minced chicken rice balls recipe that is both kid-friendly and healthy, packed with protein, vitamins and carbohydrates.
Prep with Your Junior Sous Chef
To get started, we re-read the exciting story of Worried Carrot, Calm Corn and Panicky Peas’ escapade on Mount Teriyaki.
Next, it was time to follow the simple cooking steps that accompanied the tale.
As the three characters hiked up the mountain in the story, we started to sauté the carrots and other vegetables in olive oil.
Next, in went the minced chicken and it started to sizzle as the Mount Teriyaki began to erupt.
Luckily, we were able to bundle all the ingredients into a blanket of rice and rolled them all the way to safety – just like the group who stuck together in the story!
After finishing the dish, it was time for a round of high fives!
We found that preparing a family meal together was a great way to bond and a chance to impart important life lessons and skills to the younger generation. Children can gain a better appreciation for the effort that goes into preparing a meal, and pick up important pointers on food and kitchen safety.
Don’t forget to take lots of pictures while you are having your Foodventures! It’ll be a fun way to look back and remember the experience of cooking together!
Fantastic Foodventures with FairPrice
This June holidays, make time for a Fantastic Foodventures with your family. FairPrice’s Fantastic Foodventures webpage has all that families need for a fun half-day of storytelling, cooking and enjoying a meal together.
With its colourful and attractive visuals about brave explorers and adventurers, FairPrice’s Fantastic Foodventure is a great way to introduce kids to fresh food and eating healthily. Download the storybooks and activity sheets to introduce the joys of cooking through riveting stories and colourful heros to young ones.
Have a memorable Foodventures with your child this June school holidays from the comfort of home. Cook up a storm in the kitchen as a family and Bon Appetit!
Fantastic Foodventures: Get started on yours here!
This feature is brought to you by NTUC FairPrice.
