#TWKatHome Activities

Welcoming Spring

Welcome to TWKatHome, our fun, free online content that helps kids and families explore food and build positive, healthy eating habits. Each month, we will provide activities and ideas for ways to engage children as they learn about food and where it comes from.

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Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox will occur on March 20th, marking the start of Spring. The word Equinox comes from Latin, meaning Equal Night. It is when the day and night are about equal as the sun crosses the Earth’s equator.

Learn more about the Equinox from National Geographic in this video.

Activities to Celebrate the Equinox

  • Watch the sunset or sunrise
  • Take a Nature walk and look for the first signs of spring, such as birds, flower bud and blossoms, bees, and tadpoles!
  • Make a milk carton birdhouse to welcome nesting birds at the start of the season!

How to Make a Milk Carton Birdhouse

Materials

  • carton
  • sand paper
  • 2 twigs
  • paints or decorations
  • water sealant
  • bark
  • hot glue

Directions

  1. Wash your milk or juice carton and let it dry.
  2. Cut a small hole for the door to attract small birds.
  3. Lightly sand the surface so your paint will stick.
  4. Paint and decorate!
  5. Use hot glue to attach the tree bark for the “roof”.
  6. Coat the house with sealant to make it waterproof.
  7. Add a twig under the opening as a perch for the birds, and another twig under the roof.
  8. Fill the bottom with some grass or straw or hay and add a few stones to give it some weight.

Pancakes Around the World

Flapjacks, hotcakes, crepes, cachapas: Around the globe, people have been making various forms of pancakes for thousands of years by pouring batter onto a griddle. Flours vary from wheat, corn, oat, potato, and sweet potato to name a few, and are topped with fruits, nuts or cooked savory with scallions, for example.

Here are some nutrient rich pancakes recipes with fruits and veggies for some fun cooking adventures with kids.

Make Your Own Menu!

Are you ready to run a restaurant? Create your own menu, then make playdough meals to share with your family.

  1. It's time to decide what to serve at your restaurant! Menu items are typically divided into sections based on what point during the meal, or time of day you eat each dish. Use the template on the second page or create your own menu from scratch. Create menu items that include a protein and a vegetable!
    1. Examples:

      Beef and broccoli with rice

      Lentil stew with carrots and celery

      Pizza with choice of toppings- peppers, mushrooms, ham, or pineapple

  2. Share the menu with your family and take their orders. Have fun role playing with different restaurant positions, such as Chef, Host, Server, or Customer.

  3. Now it's time to make your playdough meals! Get creative!

  4. Serve your meals and enjoy! When you are finished, be sure to store your playdough in an airtight container so that it stays soft for reuse.
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Conversation Starters

  1. What fruits have you tried on a pancake? What fruit or topping would you like to try?
  2. What fruits have you tried cooked inside a pancake? How did they taste compared to fruits fresh on top? Which do you prefer?
  3. What signs of spring have you observed?
  4. What are your favorite outdoor spring activities?

Book Recommendations

Chef Junior by Bartlett, Dessinger, Kimball, Langford, and Spears is a kid friendly cookbook written by kids! The book not only features tasty and appealing recipes, but also gives tips on substitutions for allergies, and a section on how to use kitchen equipment and tools.

Pancakes to Parathas by Alice B. McGinty explores breakfast foods from around the world, describing how each food looks, feels, and tastes in rhyme.

Goodbye Winter. Hello Spring by Kenard Pak observes the details of nature during the winter season and through the transition into spring.

Busy Spring, Nature Wakes Up by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss follows a family outside for spring gardening, while they also observe all the signs of spring from birds and tadpoles, to baby animals, and butterflies.

Chef Junior cookbook
Pancakes to Parathas
Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring
Busy Spring, Nature Wakes Up