“The Smiley Soup Day” began after a meeting with our deputy head, Mrs Taggart, who thought it would be a good idea to bring nursery and secondary pupils, parents and the home economics department together.
I suggested that some S2 pupils (12 to 13-year-olds) could share their recently developed soup-making skills with a group of nursery children.
I wanted to use the enthusiasm of all the children and make it fun to design and produce a tasty soup and snack that would encourage healthy eating.
We contacted Anderson Street nursery and invited them to join us for a morning’s cooking. Fifteen four-year-olds arrived with their teachers and some of the parents. The S2 pupils had prepared the kitchen; each was given responsibility for one nursery pupil. Everything that was to be made was designed to capture the imagination of the nursery visitors.
Cooking began with the soup. It was made from vegetables which the children picked from a wide variety displayed at the right height for small children. They made toast in animal and teddy shapes which they decorated; they made pastry boats filled with fruit and with sails of wafer biscuit.
The pupils all loved piping the cargo of cream onto the boat.
The older pupils enjoyed guiding their charges. As one said later: “I felt very responsible, which I liked.”
After a busy morning everyone enjoyed eating the healthy and tasty food after a cooking experience that brought everybody together and was a lot of fun.
Principal teacher home economics, Notre Dame High School, Glasgow
