Throughout the year here at !mpact you have walked in and it has smelled incredible! Last night it was chocolate chip cookies, other times it has been cinnamon rolls, or pizza, or something else delicious. Cooking projects are a very popular activity. We want to give our kids the chance to learn how to cook awesome treats and foods, without destroying your kitchen! 

Cooking is a great activity because it is so hands on, and engaging for the kids. They learn how to follow a recipe, measure ingredients, and taste their final product. They learn that if they add too much or too little of an ingredient, it can change the entire dish. We are always looking for new recipes to cook. So far the fan favorites have been monkey bread, bagel pizzas, and pizzookies. We try and find a variety of recipes but have noticed that the sweeter treats have been the most popular, shocking I know. 

Growing up I loved cooking, and learning how to cook, and that experience is something I like passing on to our kids here at !mpact. Each month we try to do at least 2 cooking projects. Despite having only a toaster oven, and a microwave, we make it work. The kids love figuring out what goes into each dish. They also love being able to add other ingredients to change the taste or flavor. 

Please excuse our lack of photos for this blog, during cooking projects there is so much going on that it is difficult to be on top of taking photos as well. Many of you have walked in during the cooking process and seen the amount of things going on at once. We will continue to create more delicious foods, make sure to ask your kids for a taste the next time you pick up!

Back in November we asked our kids for activity ideas for December. One idea that we got was to have our own Secret Snowman gift exchange. We gathered everyone who wanted to participate and discussed how this would work. The kids all gave great ideas, and what we settled on, was each kid will get their secret snowman their favorite candy, and then grab one small gift provided by !mpact. 

This was a great activity because it was in the spirit of the holidays. Each kid was able to give something nice to someone, while also receiving something they enjoy. When I first heard this idea I thought it was great, but I knew it needed some expectations so that everyone involved gets something fair. We talked about doing a spending limit, and they can get whatever they wanted for their snowman. We talked about !mpact providing a small gift they could pick for their snowman. Ultimately meeting in the middle worked best. 

The Thursday before break, all of the kids who participated got their secret snowman gifts. They then had to try and guess who their secret snowman was. The kids involved had a great time exchanging gifts, and seeing their snowman's' reaction to getting their gift. This was a lot of fun and something we hope to continue next season.