Playdough Meat Canning
Children will learn why people are hungry in the world, about MCC's effort to feed hungry people through the meat canning program. They will can their own "playdough" meat using the meat canning process.
Supplies
- 3 eight-foot tables
- plastic tablecover
- four plastic placemats
- four kitchen/diet scales
- 10 hard plastic knives
- 8 styrofoam or plastic soup-cup bowls. These need to fit under the grinders.
- 4 old-fashioned meat grinders with plastic protection (cut the bottom out of a narrow plastic container and attach with duct tape to the top of the meat grinder. This will prevent small fingers from sliding into the meat grinder.
- 5 gallons of playdough (will be enough for approximately 200 children). Age playdough in refrigerator two weeks before use. Use a recipe that calls for Cream of Tarter. Color it meat-like with red food coloring. See recipe on next page.
- 1-ounce plastic jars with removable plastic screw-on lids (approximately size 1 1/2" high, 2" diameter)
- meat canning labels (Sample Canning Labels (PDF))
- scotch tape
- 1 container of antibacterial wipes
Display the following information available from MCC offices
- Together We Can video and players
- Canner Times flyers on table near video
- Canner truck (Winross)
- Kids Can Poster showing the eight steps in the canning process (from Love in Action Manual - Contact the MCC regional/provincial office.)
- 5 cans of meat/turkey/chicken
An adult attendant will invite four children to look at the Kids Can poster
that you have made and lead the group in answering the question, "Why are people hungry in the world today?"
Steps
- Assign each child a space at a placemat and invite them to weigh out approximately one ounce of playdough on the scale. Children who weigh the playdough correctly will have just the right amount of playdough for the 1-ounce jar.
- Instruct children to roll the playdough into a snake, to cut the playdough snake into small pieces and to put the pieces in the bowl. As the children finish cutting their "meat" they move to the grinders with the bowl of meat pieces. The flow of this works well because it takes equal time for the cutting and the grinding so there is no back-log of children waiting for the next step.
- Invite children to dump the bowl of meat pieces into the grinders, turn the handles on the grinder and watch as the meat drops into the cup below the grinder.
- Place plastic jars and lids close to each grinder. The children will put the ground meat into the plastic jars, screw on the lid and tape the label to the jar with scotch tape.
- Draw children's attention to a real can of beef. Review the words on the label, noting the words and the logo. Thank the childen for caring about feeding hungry people.
Playdough Recipe
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup salt
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Combine flour, salt, cream of tartar. Add boiling water and oil. Stir until a soft dough forms. Add drops of red food coloring and knead into the mixture. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator. Yields about 2 cups of playdough.
Resources
MCC Food Tool Kit
Available from MCC Offices.
Meat Canning
