Make a Letter Lunch Menu and Cook it Together

Choose a letter you want to base your meal on (maybe use the first letter in your child’s name or a letter she is focusing on in school).

Talk with your child about the sound that letter makes and brainstorm some foods or ingredients that begin with that letter.

Prepare the meal or snack together with some of the letter ingredients, talking about the letter sounds you hear in each food. For instance, you could make a salami sandwich with string beans on the side, and strawberries for dessert!

Together, create a menu and have your child write the letter and draw pictures of the foods you made.

While you're eating, tell a silly story with as many words starting with your chosen letter as possible! Or talk about how letters are a part of everything we do... and everything we eat! Think of other foods you could have included if you were to have a letter feast! During your next meal, challenge your child to identify the letter his food begins with!

Help your child explore halves like Alan, Chris, and Elmo did during the Cast Iron Cooks Competition. Cut your snack in half and show how two halves make a whole. Say, "If we put two halves of the sandwich together, we have one whole sandwich!"