Creative Kids: Earth Day Muffins

Our learning has slowed down a bit this summer. Of course we're always learning- capturing bugs and watching the bird feeder are favorites- but we've been doing fewer organized learning activities. These muffins are a great way to cook together and practice some school skills on the sly. And the fact they come out as little Earths? So cool.

To make these muffins, you'll need a batch of your favorite cornbread muffin batter. (Mine comes in a little blue box with "Jiffy" on the front.)  Divide up your batter between two bowls. My kids enjoyed helping determine when the bowls are filled equally- which is great practice in estimation. Next, tint one bowl blue and one bowl green. Adding color & mixing is great for little hands! Your can also discuss how the color value of the batter changes with each drop of food coloring, as it gets darker and darker. (For older kids, you can ask them how you could make the batter lighter again? It might take them a bit to realize you'd need to add more batter.) Next, drop alternating dollops from each batter into each muffin cup ending with a green dollop on top before baking as usual. 

Don't they look Earthy? I was so pleased. So were my kids who couldn't wait to do what they do best- Eat!

Extension Activities: Before putting the muffins in the oven, have kids predict what will happen as they bake. Do they think they will all mix together or stay separate? Have them draw what they think the muffins will look like when they come out of the oven. Compare their drawings to the finished muffins.

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