The Brownie Guides had been wanting a MasterChef themed night for quite a while, as the Guide unit (10-14 year olds) holds a cooking challenge night a couple of times a year. The Guides are quite independent in the kitchen and bake cakes, cook pasta and create three course meals by themselves. The Brownies being a group of twenty, 7-10 year olds (with one Leader) were clearly not going to be able to have their night run in quite the same way. It look quite a while for me to find a night that I was comfortable running, that would also satisfy the Brownies taste for creation.
It was the most amazing thing when I stumbled across 162nd Edinburgh Brownies blog post about their MasterChef night. It would allow the Brownies to have the freedom to create their own meal, while involving fairly simple ingredients. Our MasterChef night is 99% based on their plan, I just tweaked a few things to suit my unit. Please go visit their site where you can download their MasterChef program.
On the night, the Brownies were divided into their four Patrols, with each Patrol given $15 in Brownie bucks (laminated money, Scout bucks from Making Friends) and their instructions.
The pictures below are laminated posters that I hung on the wall to give the Brownies some examples of creations they could make. All I did was add text to existing pictures I found through Google. I've added the sources of the original photographs below. Make sure to click on links 1, 2 or 4 - they all have great ideas!
 |
| Photo credit: Match Made on Hudson |
 |
| Photo credit: Finger Prickin' Good |
 |
| Photo credit: Dreamstime |
 |
| Photo credit: Gather and Dine |
 |
| Photo credit: Red Mango |
The mystery box item which is mentioned in the instructions was fresh strawberries. I stuck a sign that said 'Mystery Box' onto a cardboard box, so that the strawberries were hidden until I was ready to unveil them.
Once the girls had read through their instructions and selected what foods they wanted to use, they came to the front of the room where all the food and crockery was displayed. They handed in their shopping list and were given the produce, plates etc. they had chosen. All the fruit was given to them whole, except the watermelon which was cut into large slices.
Back at their Patrol tables each group had a few chopping boards, sharp knives and basic cutlery. I had more parent helpers than usual to assist, one with each Patrol to supervise. The girls set to work cutting their fruit and creating unique fruit displays.
After the meals were completed they were put into the fridge and the Patrol's began working on designing their menu. They ran out of time to make fancy menus like I had envisioned, but still named their creation and listed the ingredients.
By this time, we were running overtime and so we had a very quick judging and then let the Brownies dig into their meals. I had bought chocolate chips to give the winning Patrol a treat to add to their creation, but the girls were so thrilled already that I decided that the 'prize' wasn't necessary. The Brownies had so much fun and it was great seeing them get so excited about their creations which were such a healthy snack!
We were so busy that I forgot to take photos over the night, but here is one of the fruit plates, which has a little bit of everything going on!
We ran almost 30 minutes overtime, but the parents were happen to help clean up and chat while snacking on the various creations. It was nice for them to get involved and also be so excited about one of our meetings.
It was a wonderful night that I will definitely repeat in the future, once the current Brownies have moved up to the Guide unit. Thanks to the 162nd Brownie Leaders for sharing such a great program!
Downloads:
Masterchef Australia sign - download as a PDF
Challenge instructions - download as a PDF
Posters with suggested presentation ideas:
- Fruit shapes - download as a PDF
- Fruit sticks - download as a PDF
- Fruit skewers - download as a PDF
- Decorated bowl of fruit - download as a PDF
- Lots of Layers - download as a PDF
-----------------------------------
Does your unit play with food?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!