This new lesson has been quite popular in the classroom this week. Not only does it smell good, but it requires a lot of fine motor strength and organization. Plus,the grated cinnamon tastes delicious when sprinkled on apple slices! Yum!
What you'll need:*a small grater
*cinnamon sticks
*a spoon
*a little pot to store the grated cinnamon
*a cloth and a sponge for clean-up
The child rubs the cinnamon stick against the grater. Show him or her how to hold the stick like a pencil - this will keep the fingers away from the grater and help to strengthen the hand for writing. Next, the child pops the lid off the grater and spoons the cinnamon into the cinnamon pot or jar. He or she uses the sponge to clean up any stray cinnamon bits.
Personally, I was a little disappointed about the quantity of cinnamon produced in this exercise. It takes a lot of work to grate a whole cinnamon stick, and you end up with just a sprinkle or two in the pot. Obviously, this is the perfect example of the child's work being different than our adult work. As an adult, I am more concerned with the product (how much cinnamon is in the pot) rather than the process (grating the cinnamon stick). But, as this lesson has been in constant rotation among the children, they must be finding the process of grating cinnamon sticks to be quite satisfying!
Love grating lessons, too? Read about soap and bread grating here!
I totally agree! I used to have this exercise out as well (usually during holiday time) but ended up removing it because we weren't getting enough product! I'll have to put it out again and remember, process not product! Question: is that grater attached to the bowl? Where did you get that?
ReplyDeleteI use it too but i use the grater that is a small version of the stand up ones & it makes it much easier. I tried grating cheese into a grater like yours & it was hard. The finished product goes into a sachet bag & I produce regular cinnamon to sprinkle into applesauce with a little spoon. On the tray I use a blush brush for clean up.
ReplyDeleteWhat age would you start this with? Any problems with fingers getting injured with the grater (or is there some other exercise I should have my kids do first to prepare them for work with a grater?)?
ReplyDeleteThanks!!