Pancakes help children to learn about… some planning I threw together this morning. I hope you find it useful

Communication and language –
• Learn the French word for pancake – crepe
• Introduce pancake vocabulary – toss, mix, stir, weigh, measure, sweet etc.
• Learn the poem…

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry a pancake, toss a pancake and…
Catch it if you can.

Physical development –
• Mix pancakes
• Cut paper pancakes to decorate
• Talk about healthy pancake fillings
• Have a pancake race in the garden - make a frying pan out of card and decorate paper pancakes
• Toss pancakes – who can throw and catch their pancakes?

PSED –
• Share the pancakes between the group
• Make pancakes for each other
• Talk about likes, dislikes and favourites – the most popular pancake toppings are sugar and lemon and chocolate. In my house we prefer banana and ice cream. You can make savoury pancakes topped with ham and cheese or sweet ones – which do the children prefer?
• Describe how ingredients taste – lemon is bitter, sugar is sweet

Literacy – read a book…
• ‘Pancakes, Pancakes’ by Eric Carle; ‘Mama Panya’s Pancakes’ – a Kenyan Tale (Barefoot Books); ‘The big pancake’ – Ladybird
• Make some pancake themed writing paper for older children to copy the rhyme and younger children to draw pictures of their favourite pancakes and write ‘p’

Maths – look at numbers and shapes…
• Shapes – mostly circles
• Sharing the pancakes – counting and fractions
• Do pancakes have to be circles? Can you make some pancakes in other shapes?
• Weigh flour, count eggs and measure milk – talk about ‘more’, ‘less’
• Make some number pancakes - circle pancakes with numbers and dots – use them for putting in number order
• Make different sizes of pancakes for sorting - like a Russian doll, one on top of the other
• Play shops with pancakes – make them and use pennies to buy them from each other

Understanding the world -
• Talk about where pancake fillings come from and how they are made
• Look up a pancake recipe on the computer
• Watch how to make and toss pancakes using a video on You Tube (check it first)
• Learn about the real meaning of Shrove Tuesday (the day when Christians eat well before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday – 40 days before Easter). More information here - Shrove Tuesday 2014 (Pancake Day).
• Pancake day is celebrated across the world in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – talk to friends from other countries about how they are marking pancake day

Art and design –
• Decorate pancakes – circles of paper or paper plates work well
• Do some pancake colouring – there are some nice ones on Silkysteps - http://www.silkysteps.com/Resources-...ss-cooking.pdf
Or Activity Village - Flipping Pancakes Colouring Page

Extend interests – for older children -
Pancake Day is also Mardi Gras in the US and many other countries. Mardi Gras is a colourful celebration – use lots of colours to design and make masks based on Mardi Gras designs – if children do not like wearing full face masks, you can make them on a craft stick for the child to hold in front of their eyes – there are lots of templates online. Make a Mardi Gras band and parade.
Good websites for more inspiration include – http://www.dltk-kids.com/CRAFTS/mardigras/; Mardi Gras

Share children’s learning with home – put up a copy of your planning or send it to parents by email so they can learn more about how you are celebrating pancake day with their children and see how you are including learning opportunities in their play.

Promote learning at home - share your favourite pancake recipe with parents. If parents are worried about finding time to make pancakes, you could make a little extra and offer them enough of your mixture for one pancake - so all they have to do is cook it with their child.


Copyright Sarah Neville / Knutsford Childminding - Knutsford Childminding | Sarah Neville - Registered Childminder, 03.2014