Hello friends! This is the 4th post in a popular continuing series of homeschool newsletters utilizing basic items to enhance your homeschooling lessons as a fill-in activity, a jumping off point for a unit study or however you wish to use it! But be warned, these ideas may also lead you and your children down other “rabbit trails” of learning!
In this week’s post we will explore the common household item of FLOUR and I hope it inspires you to try one or many of the ideas presented. I’ve made it easy for you, just add flour!
Below are several subjects/skills you can incorporate into your homeschool lesson plans and some helpful links, so have fun with these! If you don’t want to miss out on future posts like this one, then please consider becoming a paid subscriber here:
Have we met yet? If not, hello there, I’m Brooke Z. from The Pondering Scottie! I love to help homeschooling parents by giving them fresh ideas to add into their school days and lifestyle. I homeschooled for 15 years so I know what an incredible responsibility and opportunity it is to educate your children! So join me for encouraging posts and notes centered around the topics of Jesus, homeschooling, family, travel, books, and nature with some of my artwork thrown in along the way. If you enjoy these types of inspiring posts, then please consider subscribing today.
BIBLE: Read the story of Elijah and the widow with your children in 1 Kings 17. Elijah meets a poor widow carrying sticks and asks her for a cup of water and a piece of bread. The poor widow tells him she has nothing but a little flour and olive oil for her and her son’s last meal. Elijah asks her to make him a meal first, read the story with your children to see what happens next and how God provides!
SPELLING: Put a cup or two of flour in a jelly roll pan per child and let them practice their spelling words by writing in the flour. This tactile experience will help add to the memorization of the spelling of the words.
SCIENCE:
Make some playdough together!
Here is the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp cream of tarter
food coloring (if desired)
Mix ingredients in a pan. Cook over medium heat until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and becomes “doughy” in consistency. Knead until cool. Form different colors of dough into any shape you desire. Store in an airtight container for up to a month unrefrigerated. Can be used over and over again. Not edible.
Another science activity for older students may be to research E. coli and Salmonella. What are they, how did they get their names, how to avoid, define pathology, etc.
SENSORY ACTIVITY: For this activity, grab a plastic bin and an old bed sheet. Spread out the bed sheet inside (or weather permitting, take this activity outside!) Fill the bin with about 2-3 inches of flour and place on the center of the bedsheet. Add in some measuring cups, large spoon, fork, small bowl, and various scoops that are age appropriate for your child to play and explore with the flour. For variations, add in small toy animals, small cars or trinkets.
MATH: A fun (and delicious) was to do math is to make your favorite sugar cookie recipe, playdough or basic salt dough made of flour, salt and water. Give each child a cookie cutter of their choice and see how many of their shape they can make utilizing the dough. The goal is to make as many shapes as they can without overlapping or wasting dough. Have them estimate how many each cookie cutter shape will allow with the dough you’ve given them. These skills are an excellent way to discuss and learn area, logic and spatial awareness.
Stocking a pantry - Discuss with your children what a pantry is, what is usually in a pantry and what pantry “staples” are. Share how flour is considered a pantry staple and discuss that the proper storage of flour is in a tightly sealed, airtight container in the pantry. Since so many recipes call for flour, it is a good staple to always have on hand! Play a game to see if the recipe you call out needs flour! Cake? Yes! Hamburgers? No! Pie? Yes! and so on!
From Scratch Cooking - Discuss that cooking from “scratch” is usually cheaper than ready made items. Have your child compare the price of a loaf of bread from your grocery store compared to the cost of ingredients to make bread. See how many homemade loaves you could make for the comparisons of one store bought bread. (For a little math thrown in here, compare the cost difference/savings!)
Raw Flour - Teach your children that raw flour hasn’t been cooked and so can contain harmful bacteria like E. coli. Discuss what E. coli is and how you do not want it in your food and how it can make you very sick!
Never throw flour on a small fire - tossing flour can cause a flash fire, use baking soda instead!
Soothe minor skin irritations like a bug bite by making a simple flour/water paste if no topical medicine is available or warranted.
Clean up flour with cold water not hot. Hot water activates the gluten and the dough becomes sticky and messier. (Before this article, I did not know this fact, it’s so fun to still learn as I write!)
Baker - Do you have a child who likes to bake? Then they might enjoy visiting behind-the-scenes at a local bakery, reading about new recipes and famous bakers, watching a baking show, or baking something new in the kitchen for dessert for the family! Cupcakes anyone?
Agronomist - Perhaps your son or daughter would enjoy working directly with farmers to create new wheat varieties that are drought or insect resistant, yield more flour per acre or have specific baking qualities, then they may want to research becoming an agricultural scientist someday!
Grain Commodity Trainer - Does your teenager enjoy numbers, economics, weather and geopolitical events? Then they might enjoy learning more about what it takes to be in high-stakes finance, buying and selling wheat futures on the global market!
GEOGRAPHY: Research and learn about the areas in your state, country and world that grow wheat for flour. Color these areas in on a country or world map.
MUSIC: Make some maracas with a simple water plus flour paste! Add some uncooked rice to the inside of a balloon for each child, blow up the balloon and tie off. Layer paper with the wet flour paste completely over a blown up balloon. Let it dry. Paint the maracas in pretty bright colors and let dry. Then shake to the beat of your favorite songs!
LITERATURE:
A cute book for preschool age children would be to read the “The Little Red Hen”. Then sequence the activity of the hen making the bread. Also discuss the character qualities of the hen versus the pig, cat and duck and see who they want to be more like!
Another book to explore is From Wheat to Pasta by Mari C Schuh in the “Who made my lunch” series! Includes a world map, glossary, and further resources. Discuss “farm to table” dining and then make some homemade pasta for dinner!
Here’s a fun story book to watch/listen to with your children:
For older students there are all kinds of non-fiction books on bread, bread making, sour dough, gluten-free bread and a myriad of cookbooks like Everyday Bread by America’s Test Kitchen waiting at your local library or bookstore!
GEOLOGY: If your child is “into rocks”, have them look up what a French Burrstone is and how it is used to mill wheat. Also, find out what “Glacial Flour” is and what nutrients it is composed of and how it helps soil to be fertile to grow wheat.
ART:
Fun for all ages, make some Dough Ornaments using a basic dough recipe:
2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1 cup fine salt (acts as a preservative)
various spices like cinnamon and cloves, if desired
Roll out the dough to 1/4” thickness and cut out your desired shapes with a cookie cutter. (For variation you can add cinnamon, clove, nutmeg or ginger spices to your liking!) Be sure to poke a hole near the top of the shapes with a plastic straw to be able to hang the ornament with string or ribbon once they are all finished. Bake on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 2 hours in a 250-degree oven or let air dry completely. Once the dough has cooled you can paint with acrylic paints or paint pens. Seal with an acrylic sealer or Mod Podge and enjoy your ornaments for years to come! I’d love to see what you come up with - tag me if you make some!
For some edible art, how about making some “Focaccia Bread” as your edible canvas:
HISTORY: Research the fascinating history of flour sack dresses during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. See how companies helped in this process and find out how many sacks it takes to make a dress for a young child! Maybe your seamstress or tailor might like to “design” and sew one!
HYGIENE: Eating raw cookie dough is indeed potentially bad, sweet friends. And I know I have eaten my fair share of raw cookie dough over the years! The danger isn’t really with the raw eggs as most people think, it’s in the raw flour. Raw flour is frequently the culprit in food poisoning. And if you’ve ever had food poisoning, then you know you want to avoid it at all costs!
COOKING: Since cooking and baking with flour seem the most obvious of subjects, I’ve saved it for last! Maybe your culinary child(ren) would enjoy learning about and making a Roux for dinner, a sweet bread for breakfast or homemade noodles for lunch? The foodie flour ideas you can whip up in the kitchen are endless, so just have fun!
If you enjoyed this post and found it helpful and inspiring in your lesson plans for any jumping off points, then please let me know in the comments and restack this post as well as share with a friend or family member!
Here are Part 1 on Water , Part 2 on Salt and Part 3 on Dirt in case you missed them and want to catch up on this educational and fun homeschool series!
Until next time sweet friends,
Brooke
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