Kitchen Classroom 2021: Week 25

Welcome to week 25 of Kitchen Classroom 2021, where America’s Test Kitchen Kids is sharing a weekly kid-tested and kid-approved recipe, hands-on experiment, or activity paired with a Learning Moment that brings learning to life in the kitchen.

For this week’s Kitchen Classroom, Kids Cook Dinner! Young chefs ages 5 and up will enjoy making Sheet Pan Barbecue Chicken and Broccoli, a recipe from My First Cookbook that the whole family can enjoy. This quick and easy one–pan meal stars barbecue sauce–covered chicken breasts and crispy roasted broccoli. In this week’s Learning Moment, kids will practice their counting and addition or multiplication skills to estimate how many broccoli florets there are in one pound, and everyone in the family can respond to the conversation starters in Take It Further.

Don’t forget to share what your family makes by tagging @testkitchenkids or using #atkkids on Instagram, or by sending photos to kids@americastestkitchen.com. Visit the America’s Test Kitchen Kids website for more culinary content designed especially for kids.

Here’s what’s cooking for the week of June 21st through 27th, 2021.

Summer is here, and in this edition of Kids Cook Dinner, young chefs can prepare a simple, barbecue-inspired meal for the whole family. This one-pan chicken and broccoli dinner brings the flavor of a summer cookout indoors so kids can enjoy being BBQ masters without the danger of outdoor grilling.
[GET THE RECIPE]

What You’ll Need
Vegetable oil spray
4 (6- to 8-ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts
¼ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon salt, measured separately 
¼ cup barbecue sauce
1 pound broccoli florets
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Learning Moment
Math (Counting and Estimation): 
As they prepare the ingredients for this recipe, kids will measure out 1 pound (6 cups) of broccoli florets. To practice their estimation skills, try this simple exercise:

• Before they measure, have kids look at the size and shape of the broccoli florets. Are the florets roughly all the same size, or are some big and some small?
• Ask kids to measure out 1 cup of broccoli florets. Then, have them count how many florets are in that 1 cup. 
• Based on that number, ask kids to estimate how many florets will be in 6 cups. (Grab a piece of scrap paper and a pencil and write down both the number of florets in 1 cup and the estimated number of florets in 6 cups. Remind kids that they can use multiplication or addition to come up with their estimate.)
• Once kids have made their estimate, have them measure out all 6 cups of broccoli into a large bowl, and then count the total number of florets. 
• Ask kids: How close was your estimate to the actual number? Discuss the fact that because of the uneven sizes of broccoli florets, it would be almost impossible to estimate perfectly. 

Take It Further
Language Arts (Speaking and Listening):
As you enjoy your meal together, use the prompts below to help foster conversation around your table. As kids answer the questions, help them think through their thoughts and feelings about their answers and what has been said by others. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

1. Was making this recipe easy, medium, or hard? What was the hardest part? The most fun part? Did you make any mistakes that helped you learn something? 
2. If you could invite anyone in the world, real or fictional (maybe a friend, a family member who lives far away, someone famous, or even a character from your favorite book), to have dinner with us, who would you choose? Why?  What would you cook for them?
3. If you could open your own barbecue restaurant, what would you call it? What would be your restaurant’s signature dish? 

Catching up on Kitchen Classroom? Find previous weeks using the links below:

• Kitchen Classroom 2021
• Kitchen Classroom 2020