Lights! Camera! How to be the Best TV Cooking Star

If you’re looking for something to do with the grandkids, create a TV studio in your kitchen and turn the children into TV cooking stars for the day. All you need is your smartphone, a tripod, ingredients, and a few props.

Here’s Little N’s video. This is a very amateur effort on my part, but you’ll get the gist of what can be done if you have better editing skills.

How to Plan a Video for your Cooking Star

Here are some things to consider when creating a video segment of your little TV cooking star:

• Location: Choose a place that’s relatively uncluttered. I have an open kitchen with a very large island, but actually, any space in your house will do. Our recipes don’t require a stove.

Another fun activity for younger kids is water play, pretend cooking outdoors.

• Plan the demo: At only four years old at the time, Little N demoed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Miss T, a very capable seven, dipped dried fruits in chocolate and made chocolate haystack candy.
• Gather the ingredients.
• Select the props, such as spoons, bowls, and trays.
• Practice at least once with the child before videoing, going through the motions with the food and props.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• Peanut butter
• Jelly
• Slice of bread, cut in half for quicker spreading

Equipment and props:

• Work surface–we used a cutting board
• Spoon for jelly
• Butter spreader for peanut butter
• Two dishes to hold the peanut butter and jelly

Action:

• Spread one 1/2 slice of bread with peanut butter
• Spread one 1/2 slice of bread with jelly
• Put together and eat

Chocolate-Dipped Apricots and Candy Haystacks

In this demonstration, your TV cooking star will show how to dip dried fruits in chocolate. With the remaining chocolate, she will add a handful of crispy chow mein noodles, stir everything together so the chocolate adheres to the noodles, then drop by spoonfuls. When the chocolate hardens, it will make delicious, crunchy candy.

Ingredients:

• Chocolate chips
• Dried apricots or other dried fruit, such as dates, figs or prunes
• Package of crispy chow mein noodles

Equipment and props:

• Wax-paper-lined tray (chocolate will stick to the tray without wax paper); we used a quarter sheet pan
• Fork for stirring chocolate
• Two spoons for dropping chocolate chow mein mixture onto wax paper
• Bowl for chocolate chips (to show–optional)
• Bowl for chow mein noodles
• A microwave-safe bowl for melting chocolate chips

Action:

• Just before beginning the demo, an adult should microwave a bowl of chocolate chips at 30 second intervals until melted, stirring each time. Chips will not lose their shape even when melted so you need to keep stirring and watch carefully.
• Bring out the bowl of melted chocolate to the set; bowl will be hot so child should be careful. Using clean fingers, child should dip apricots halfway with chocolate and set aside on wax paper to harden.
• After making a few dipped apricots, have the child stir in chow mein noodles in remaining chocolate –just enough noodles so they are coated with chocolate to stick together–and drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper to form haystacks.

What to Do with your Video

I think it’s just fun for kids to see themselves pretending to be TV cooking stars and you can simply show them the results on your phone, as B-roll, without editing. Or you can edit the video to make a more polished presentation. Either way, kids should be happy to see themselves in action.

Have a showing of the video for parents by casting the video to your TV. You can make a big deal of it as a premiere, and serve popcorn and snacks for the big unveil.

If kids are interested, they can go on to do more demos and polish their skills. Or like mine, they may consider it one and done. And that’s okay, too. It will make for an entertaining afternoon.

What Kids Learn from this Activity

• Teaches poise and presentation skills
• They learn to plan and prepare for a presentation
• They hone expository skills, since their role is to explain what they are doing during the demo

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