Bread

Any kind of cooking involves chemical changes. Bread is a fun cooking/science project because it involves all the senses and some great teaching opportunities with yeast. If you are of a mind to, you can also make this a cultural lesson as bread changes across ethic groups, social occations, and geographic location.

And you can eat the results!

Science words: bigger, smaller, most, least, rise, yeast, dormant, carbon dioxide, breathe

Make Pizza - make your own dough or buy a dough ball. Split the dough and put one in a warm spot and one in a cooler spot. Which one rises first? Which one rises the most? How does the dough feel when you spread it out?

Yeast - yeast is usually dormant when we buy it at the store. We wake it up with warm water and some food (honey, sugar). Without yeast, bread is a tortilla! How does yeast make bread puffy? Yeast breathes. Ok, they yeast doesn't have lungs like people but they give off carbon dioxide and that is captured in the bread as a bubble.

You can put some yeast, warm water, and honey or sugar in an empty 2l bottle and cover the opening with a balloon. The balloon will inflate, or get bigger, as more of the carbon dioxide is released by the yeast.

Silly songs – music and math stimulate the same part of the brain that is separate from the language centers. So make some music…

(This is from http://www.everythingpreschool.com/)

This Is The Way We Make The Bread
This is the way we make the Bread
Make the Bread, make the Bread
This is the way we make the Bread
To make this Bread for you

This is the way we knead the dough
Knead the dough, Knead the dough
This is the way we knead the dough
To make this Bread for you

Additional Verses:
Mix the dough
Shape the dough
Bake the dough
Eat the Bread

Bread

Bread is such an integral part of all cultures and a good way to explore geopgraphy. But we are here because we love science. So let's do some science!

Yeast is the critter that makes bread rise. Without yeast we'd have sandwiches on flat breads like tortillas or pita breads. Yeast are tiny one-celled fungi humans use to make bread rise and beer bubbly.

When we purchase yeast at the store, it is dormant. We wake it up with warm water and feed it with some sort of sugar.

Go try making bread together and explore the work on yeast!

Science words: bigger, smaller, most, least, rise, yeast, dormant, carbon dioxide, breathe

Bread tasting - gather a handful of different kinds of bread such as rye, pita, whole wheat, or tortillas. Which ones do you think used yeast to grow? Which ones would you guess are the yummiest? Use your sense of smell to explore your guesses - then taste them! Try them plain or toasted - do you still like the same one best?

Make Pizza - make your own dough or buy a dough ball. Split the dough and put one in a warm spot and one in a cooler spot. Which one rises first? Which one rises the most? How does the dough feel when you spread it out?

Silly songs – music and math stimulate the same part of the brain that is separate from the language centers. So make some music…

This Is The Way We Make The Bread
This is the way we make the Bread
Make the Bread, make the Bread
This is the way we make the Bread
To make this Bread for you

This is the way we knead the dough
Knead the dough,
Knead the dough
This is the way we knead the dough
To make this Bread for you

Additional Verses:Mix the dough
Shape the dough
Bake the dough
Eat the Bread

Books:
The Little Red Hen makes Pizza by P. Sturges – great for talking about sequencing – what happens first, second and so on.
Bread, Bread, Bread by Ann Morris