Tag: Schools

Closed schools and bored children? – Italian Cuisine

Closed schools and bored children at home? Here are the expert's tips for transforming boredom into a precious opportunity to stimulate creativity, imagination and self-esteem

Schools closed all over Italy. To counter and contain the spread of the new Coronavirus COVID-19, the decree of the President of the Council of Ministers provided for the suspension of teaching activities until next March 15. Also stop at cinemas and theatrical performances. The same applies to activities in gyms, swimming pools and sports centers if they cannot be carried out respecting the safety distance of at least one meter from other people. Because of these measures, many parents find themselves reorganizing their days and free time in the family to prevent children from getting bored at home. Yet boredom also has its advantages.
"The exasperated scheduling of the days that parents usually get their children used to allows children to experience moments of rest and breaks like black holes to be filled quickly", he comments Rosanna Schiralli psychologist psychotherapist, creator together with colleague Ulisse Mariani of the method of emotional education. "However, boredom is a fundamental resource not only for regenerating, but for growth itself," continues the expert. «Children need time off. Their brain is not yet able to manage complicated temporal dimensions and stimuli that follow one another rapidly, as unfortunately today happens more and more, also because of an excessive use of technology . Rosanna Schiralli explains why boredom can also be useful.

Stimulate creativity

"When children are bored they have the opportunity to independently search and build viable alternatives. They manage, for example, to invent games other than those programmed by adults and explore the environment independently ", says psychologist Rosanna Schiralli. But the advantages are also others. "By getting bored, they stimulate the imagination, which is a precious bridge between cognitive learning and emotional perception. In fact, it leads to the most powerful engine of human development: desire .

It promotes self-esteem

«Left alone“ in boredom ”, children have more opportunities to direct themselves and equip themselves with wider horizons of creativity, where desires, fears, emotions favor the development of a good emotional harmony with themselves and with the surrounding world. Furthermore, if they autonomously explore and experiment, they have a return to self-esteem which leads them to experiment again. It triggers a sort of virtuous circle that is extremely important for the growth and construction of their self-esteem ", explains the psychologist.

It is good for growth

“Thanks to boredom, a child learns to be alone without feeling alone. Having less stressful and more diluted time scans, it will activate new scenarios and new situations to release your tensions. In other words, he will be able to live, independently, simply well with himself. He will get used to the fact that there is a time of doing and that of quiet. The time of stressful performance and that of tranquility. The full time and the empty one to fill and feel flowing. When bored, the child learns to be in emotions and thoughts, finding solutions by himself. In this way, he will be able to acquire greater autonomy, a better ability to endure conflicts and frustrations without fear of changing his moods ", explains psychologist Rosanna Schiralli.

In the gallery, the expert's advice to be able to experience boredom as an opportunity

Closed schools? We make pizza with the kids – Italian Cuisine

Children in the kitchen learn a lot of things while having fun at the same time. We take advantage of these closing days of schools and many parents at home to spend creative time with their children

It is not easy for our children to spend time forced to spend many hours at home because of the closed schools. A little bit of homework that teachers send through telematic channels, a little TV, a little park if it's sunny and it's not cold. But then? Wouldn't it also be nice to do something that involves children and adults together? For example prepare pizza, that the children will eat even more willingly.

So, hands in dough, yeast flour and water, an apron and a chef's hat and an adult to learn from and have fun with. It takes very little to offer a moment of play and learning to your children and if the opportunity is to put a tasty pizza in the oven to eat in company, everything becomes even more fun.

Why it is important to make pizza with children

Children in the kitchen learn a lot of things while having fun at the same time. For example, kneading or manipulating ingredients with your hands to create something is one of them more complete training activities for a child small that has the opportunity to develop his manual and sensory skills. But it is also important because it represents a task to be completed with the help of the parent, an opportunity for discussion and sharing, a moment of activity in the family. And we have a lot of time to spend with our children these days, given that young and old are at home because of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

To make this activity even more special, go ahead to the imagination in the preparation of pizzas: not only the classic ones, but also decorated and fun.

Here then 10 pizza recipes for children that we can safely do at home with the help of our children.

Classic pizzas

Crazy pizzas

Sweet pizzas

Have fun!

Schools closed for coronavirus. Fish-based ideas for kids – Italian Cuisine

With schools closed and children at home, lunch must also be invented and the menu needs to be changed. Here are some fun ideas for kids to eat fish

Complicated days, those that Italians are experiencing in some areas of the country, especially in the northern regions, where the many cases of Covid-19 coronavirus they force many social activities to close or downsize. Closed or smart working companies make adults stay at home for many more hours.
But for the children it is no better: closed schools and days at home to do the homework that teachers send to parents via WhatsApp groups.
Access to meeting places is also prohibited or severely limited. In short, everyone is staying at home. A situation that breaks the routine and that, wanting to see the glass half full, keeps families together for much longer than it usually happens. And so we all meet up for lunch together: and it's not the weekend!

The problem at this point is to invent different daily menus, since there are two family meals. And then there is the need to change the diet of the children, which the school canteen usually thinks about.

Here we take care of the little ones at home and how to make them eat fish, starting from a fact: everything that is burger and can be served inside a soft sandwich, children like it. Even the fish.
Here 5 recipes foolproof for the little ones.

Hulk Burger

The Hulk burger is obviously all green and contains spinach. We thought of calling him by the name of this superhero, but you can also opt for Shrek or Popeye, it depends a little on the children's favorite characters.
Making this burger is simple. Just stir 300 g of cod fillet with one egg, 100 g of spinach boiled and well squeezed, a boiled and mashed potato, salt and pepper.
Add little breadcrumbs in the mixture and then make burgers that will be brushed with milk and passed in breadcrumbs. You can cook them in a pan with a drizzle of oil or in the oven.

Pink burger

The girls will go crazy in front of a all pink burger. The basis is the salmon which already has a nice pink color, but to make it even stronger we suggest you use it in the dough red turnips steamed.
First whisk, after removing the bones, a salmon fillet and a red turnip.
Then add a large or two small eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper, chopped parsley and breadcrumbs just enough to achieve a perfect consistency.
Once the mixture is ready, leave it in the refrigerator for an hour and then make the burgers.
They are excellent cooked in a pan, but these too can go in the oven.

Burger by Nemo

This is not a real burger because in this case nothing is cooked.
Nemo burger is a Fake fish which is prepared with the tuna in oil and boiled potatoes and it is called this because it has the shape of a fish.
Jumbled up 200 g of tuna well drained with 6 potatoes boil and mash.
Add some chives and a handful of chopped capers with the knife, salt and pepper and grated lemon zest.
Leave the mixture in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and then make small fishes that you can serve on the plate with a banner of Arab bread heated in the oven, or in a classic bun.

fish burger

Tuna burger

A cooked version of Nemo burger.
Tuna is an ingredient that children always like a lot, especially in combination with potatoes, so here is the solution.
For the fake cooked fish, add an egg and a little parmesan to the previous recipe and make externally breaded burgers to be cooked in the oven or in a pan.

Sole burger

If your kids love delicate tastes and then the sole, offer it in the form of a burger.
After cooking with a drizzle of oil in a pan, clean it well and blend it. For 300 g of sole clean add a large egg, parsley, salt, a little Parmesan and breadcrumbs as required.

Fish burger: the ideal accompaniments

Bread and scones

The real burger is made with the bun, a soft and round American bun covered with sesame seeds, but we can also opt for an Italianized version using some scones.
Also Sandwiches Milk they are fine, but be careful because they moisten easily so once stuffed they must be consumed immediately especially if there are sauces inside.
The excellent Arabic bread especially with the addition of fresh raw vegetables and yogurt sauce.

Homemade sauces

And speaking of sauces, how to pair these burgers?
Obviously with a good homemade mayonnaise you are never wrong and therefore we invite you to try our recipe mayonnaise.
Then you can't miss the Ketchup and this too can be easily prepared at home.
If you want something very delicate you can also opt for a simple one yogurt sauce with lemon juice and minced mint that goes very well especially with oily fish such as salmon.

How to stuff the sandwich

At this point, the burger is ready and the sauces are ready, all that remains is to stuff the sandwich or focaccia.
If children love vegetables use the classic lettuce leaf it's a tomato slice, otherwise only sauces.
Obviously, since it is a fish burger, the slices must be excluded!

And then there are these delicious fish cakes

In the tutorial some ideas for your burger-based family dinners

Recipes by Giorgia Di Sabatino.