Cheese Preschool Theme

Mozzarella is the easiest and quickest cheese. You can make other types of cheese at home and let children see the different processes and times taken to make different cheeses.

Words to learn : aging, cheese, citric acid, curd, curdle, knead, liquid, mix, mozzarella, rennet, solid, stretch, thermometer

What you need : Cheesemaking kit from cheesemaking.com.

• Don helped pour the milk and mixed in the citric acid, (and even learned about thermometer for the first time)
• Then the milk started to curdle
• We added the rennet and it curdled more (What is that mommy ? Why does that happen ?)
• Then came the fun part, kneading the mozzarella
.

Don really wanted to help knead but it was too hot and I didn't have any rubber gloves around. So he just watched me knead and stretch the mozzarella until he saw me taste a little. That was it ! I never finished kneading and stretching the mozzarella until it reaches it's supposedly shiny and stretchy final result, we ate it all in the process.

It was so much fun ! I didn't realize making mozzarella was so easy and so quick. Under 30 minutes !! And since this was our first time making cheese, to be honest, I feel like doing magic. I mean how on earth did the milk turn into curd and finally cheese !?!?! How could that happen ? Of course it's the rennet but still, isn't it amazing ? When you think about it,... One minute you have liquid milk, the next you have solid, mozzarella cheese !! MAGIC !!

Suggested field trip : Make your cheese preschool theme activity more fun by visiting a local cheesemaking factory. Children will see how cheese is made in bulk, different types of cheeses and that different cheese has different aging time.

Recommended books :

	Extra Cheese, Please
	The milk maker