Welcome to Freebie Friday!

This week I am feeling inspired by food.  One thing I have learned while teaching my kids is that if I put food into their lessons I really hold their attention.  Recently I was stumbling around the internet and I came across a site that teaches about cultural diversity with a steaming bowls of homemade soup!  This got me curious about what other food related cultural lessons I could find and the results of search will be revealed on this week's freebie links page.  I hope you enjoy eating your way around the world!

Teaching with Soup http://kidbibs.com/learningtips/lt34.htm is a fun site that was the inspiration of this week’s topic.  At this website you will find 7 different soup recipes that will give you a "taste" of different cultures.  There is also a list of children's books about soup.  This would make a great trip around the world if you had several families join together each making a different soup and giving a presentation on the country their soup represents.

Next I searched for bread recipes from around the world.  Whats4eats.com  http://www.whats4eats.com/breads has a great collection of amazing recipes!  You will find everything from Venezuelan Arepas to Jamaican Bammie to Yorkshire Pudding from England.

Rice is a staple food in many places around the world. At the Ricegourment.com    http://www.ricegourmet.com/Recipes.htm you will find a mouthwatering variety of rice recipes from all over the world. 

Teaching Kids about Cultures Through Food 
http://gomestic.com/family/delicioso-teaching-kids-about-cultures-through-food/ is an interesting article written by a mom who uses dinner each night to reinforce what her children are learning at school during the day.  She shares some great ideas for putting together meals, adding decorations and costumes and just having fun with food and family!

This last one is actually my favorite freebie of the week! Beans Around the World
http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/
is a little weird, but I guarantee that my kids will get excited about seeing a can of beans travel around the world to new places!  This "project" reminds me a lot of the Flat Stanly projects  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley that are popular to do with children.  Although in this case it is cans of beans doing the traveling!  Why?  You will have to read the story  http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/beans3.html on their website.  I had a great time clicking around and seeing all the places the beans have traveled.  I really enjoyed seeing a man in native garb in Borneo  http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/borneo.html with the beans!  I also thought it was fun to see them in front of the Eiffel Tower!  http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/paris.html  But, you can do more than look at pictures at this website!  You can print your own bean can label and become a Bean Ambassador http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/beans7.html yourself!  This website 
http://www.beans-around-the-world.com/ is a fun way to show your family around the world!

I hope you have enjoyed this edible trip around the world!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin