Often we forget that learning about health and food is just as important as learning about math, reading and writing. Today, I have a great activity that will get the kids moving and help them learn a bit about the food by-products.
Not all food comes directly off the farm. Sadly there are not Oreo trees or fields of bread. But all food starts as an ingredient on the farm. A simple way to demonstrate this is to have your class make butter.
Introduce the lesson by having the students complete the FREE Moving Milk Products maze and coloring printable from Free My Plate. Talk with the students about other products that are made from milk. To add a little math, you could tally the favorite dairy products of the students: milk, ice cream, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, pudding, etc. Show the results on a graph.
How to make butter
Ingredients:
- 1 small jar with a lid for each student
- whipping cream
- good music
- kids!!
Fill the jars about one-third to half way with cream. Make sure to put the lids on tight. Then crank up the music and have the kids shake and dance.
After all the shaking is done, have the kids pour off the butter milk into a small paper cup. They can drink that. Then serve small crackers for dipping in the butter.
Beyond the lesson:
Take a field trip to a grocery store. Have students identify which farm products are in their favorite foods. Explain whole foods (milk) vs processed foods (butter).
Have a dairy farmer visit the class (PS our farm does this, please contact for more information) and talk about the steps milk takes from cow to your table.
Watch a video on how commercial butter is made: Here is a good one
Make a Dairy Board: I got this idea from Preschool Plan-It. Have students cut out pictures of food. Have one board labeled “Dairy” and another one labeled “Not Dairy.” Help the students put their pictures on the right board.
Related Zweber Farms Post: Free Teacher Resource: Cows and Numbers
Make sure to visit my Farm Learning Activities board on Pinterest. I am packing it full of great activities and FREE teacher resources.
Enjoy! ~Emily
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Thanks for this recipe! I was not aware that you could use ultra pasteurized cream to make butter with.
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