Centre Happening: Wibbly Wobbly Jelly!

With the increasingly warmer weather abound, we decided to make a cool treat to have for afternoon tea! Jelly is an all-time favourite amongst our tamariki and the process of making jelly provides opportunities to explore scientific concepts such as dissolving and change of state.

Before getting started, we explored the box and spent time identifying any letters and numbers we knew. From the picture and colour of the box, our tamariki guessed what flavour it could be. “Shall we open them and have a smell?”, one of our kaiako suggested. Carefully breaking the seal on the box, we sniffed to see if our guesses were right. “I think this one is lemon”, one of our little ones said when they sniffed the yellow box, while another suggested it could be pineapple. We began reading the instructions on the box and during this process we found out that many of our tamariki had helped make jelly at home and were familiar with the method. 😊👍

We needed hot water, a measuring spoon, a bowl and another spoon to mix. After setting some water to warm in the kettle, this was carefully brought to the table. Because we had to be super careful with this, our tamariki had some help pouring the warm water out of the kettle but took ownership of the measuring (counting of cups of water to jelly crystals). “It smells so yummy”, one child commented, as the jelly crystals mixed in with the water. During this process, we spoke about what the jelly crystals looked like prior to being added to the water and then what they looked like after they had been mixed in.

Making jelly involves patience and our tamariki soon found this out as they had to wait a few hours while it set in the fridge. By afternoon tea time, we took out the bowls and did a wobble test. “Do you think it is ready to eat?”, we asked and after shaking each bowl and examining the wobble, we concluded that it was time for some taste-testing!!

Involving children in simple cooking or baking experiences provides them with opportunities to explore concepts related to maths and science, as well as becoming familiar with numbers and letters through the exploration of a recipe. It also encourages them to use their senses to gain a deeper understanding of things around them. 👍

…wonder what yummy treat will be on the menu next? 😊