Lion Pancake
Do you have fun and enjoy making pancakes? Are you trying to think of a fun way to turn your plain and normal pancakes into something more fun and exciting? Well come along because I have the perfect idea for you! Why don’t you turn it into a lion! Anybody can enjoy making a lion animal pancake, especially school-aged kids! The point of this activity is to use your creativity and make a lion animal pancake or whatever animal you would like to choose. Once you have made your animal pancake, go ahead and add some syrup or peanut butter and dive in and enjoy!
Supplies needed:
- Strawberries
- 2 blueberries
- 8 chocolate chips
- Knife (plastic knife)
- 1 small bowl for strawberries
- 1 plate
- 1 big bowl to mix all of the ingredients
- a paper towel to put the chocolate chips and blueberries on
- Pan
- Spatula
- Whisk
- Milk
- 1 egg
- Vanilla
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Flour
- tiny bit of olive oil (so our pancakes don’t stick to the pan)
- ¾ measuring cup
- 1 Tablespoon measuring spoon
- ½ Tablespoon measuring spoon
- ½ teaspoon measuring spoon
Activity Steps
Before we begin, make sure there is a clear space to be able to mix your pancake ingredients and to decorate the pancakes after they are done. Since we will be working with food, let’s also make sure that we wash our hands before we touch anything.
Gather all of the ingredients to make the pancake mix and to decorate our pancake (you can set the pancake ingredients aside, but make sure it is close to you so when you are ready to make the mix you are able to grab the ingredients easily).
Step 1: First, grab two blueberries and wash them well then set them on a paper towel. Grab eight chocolate chips and place those on the same paper towel. The blueberries will be used for the lion’s eyes and the chocolate chips will be used for the lion’s mouth.
Tip: If you don’t want to use blueberries, you can use blackberries.
Step 2: Next, grab three strawberries and wash them well. Grab your knife (can use a plastic knife) and cut the stems off of each strawberry. Then place the part that is flat on a paper towel or plate and start cutting the strawberry into slices (vertically).
Take one of your slices and cut it into a smaller triangle. Cut off the sides of the strawberry slice to make it into a triangle. Once you have your slices and smaller triangle, place them into a bowl.
Reminder: If you are not comfortable with using a knife, get permission from your parent or guardian and ask for them to help out.
Tip: Depending on how big or small your strawberry is, will depend on how many slices you get out of each strawberry. For one strawberry, I got four slices.
Step 3: Now you have your blueberries, chocolate chips, and strawberries all ready. You can go ahead and set them aside for when you are ready to actually decorate your pancake.
Step 4: Next, grab your big bowl to mix all of your pancake mix ingredients in along with your whisk to mix everything together. Measure ¾ cup of milk and pour it into the bowl.
Step 5: Then get one egg from the refrigerator and crack it into the bowl of milk. Try not to get any part of the shell in, but if you do just grab a spoon and get it out. Grab your whisk and stir the milk and eggs together.
Tip: Hit the egg on the side of the bowl to get it to crack open. You will know it is stirred up well if you don’t see the yolk anymore (the yellow part of the egg).
Step 6: Next, measure out ½ T (tablespoon) of vanilla. Pour into the mix and stir together.
Tip: A tablespoon has a big T and a teaspoon has a tsp or little t. If you don’t have a ½ tablespoon, just use a 1 tablespoon and fill it up halfway. Have a parent or guardian help you out with this step.
Step 7: Now measure out 1 ½ T of sugar. Pour into the mix and stir together well.
Tip: Rinse and dry off your tablespoon that you used for the vanilla so you can use it again for the sugar. Use the same tip as in the previous step (step 6) to measure out the sugar.
Step 8: Next, measure out ½ T of baking powder. Pour into the mix and stir together.
Tip: Use the same tip as in step 6 and make sure you grab baking powder and not baking soda.
Step 9: Now measure out ½ tsp (teaspoon) of salt. Pour into the mix and stir together.
Step 10: Before we finish making our pancake mix, let’s turn the stove on medium heat. Put a tiny bit of olive oil in your pan and swirl it around (this is so our pancakes don’t stick to the pan). Set your pan onto the stove to let the pan heat up.
Reminder: Because we are using the stove, make sure to get permission from your parent or guardian and ask if it is okay to use it.
Tip: An easier way to spread the oil around in the pan, is to get a paper towel and wipe it back and forth across the pan.
Step 11: Next, grab your last ingredient which is flour. You will need ¾ cup and 2 T of flour.
Pour into the mixture and stir together very well.
Tip: Rinse and dry off your ¾ cup and 1 Tablespoon that you used for the milk and baking powder so you can use it again for the flour. You really want to stir all of this really well. Keep stirring until the mixture isn’t clumpy anymore. The mixture should be pretty smooth.
Step 12: Once your pancake mix is ready to go, you can start making your pancakes (have a parent help out with pouring the pancake batter into the pan). Also have your plate beside you to put the pancakes on when they are done.
Reminder: Remember since we are using the stove and it is on, we need to be very careful around it.
Tip: If you used just a big bowl to mix your ingredients in, use a measuring cup to scoop the batter and pour it into the pan. If you used a big, dry measuring bowl like it did with a spout, you will be fine with pouring the pancake mix into the pan using the spout.
Step 13: For all of the pancakes we will be making, pour batter into the pan. You will know it is ready to be flipped to the other side when there are a lot of bubbles appearing. Use a spatula and flip to the other side. You can use your spatula and peak to see if the other side of the pancake is done. When they are done, use your spatula to scoop it and put it onto the plate.
Tip: To know if your pancake is done, both sides should be a golden brown color. Cook the first side until bubbles form on top. When you flip your pancake to the other side, let it cook for about 30 seconds (more or less) depending on your stove.
Step 14: For the lion that we will be making, we will need one big pancake and one smaller sized pancake.
Tip: You will have left over pancake mix so you can make more pancakes later.
Step 15: Next, once you have both pancakes done make sure to turn off the stove.
Step 16: Now put the bigger pancake and place it on your plate.
Tip: Make sure you have a plate big enough.
Step 17: Grab your strawberries that are cut into slices and start placing them around the outside of the pancake.
Tip: Place the straighter edge of the strawberry and tuck it a little underneath the pancake. I am not placing all of the strawberry slices around the outside of the pancake, but if you want to go you can. You may need to cut some more strawberry slices if you do.
Step 18: Next, grab your other pancake and put it on top of the bigger pancake. Place the smaller pancake kind of in the middle.
Step 19: Take your two blueberries and place them onto the bigger pancake as the lion’s eyes.
Step 20: Next, take your last strawberry that is in the shape of a small triangle and place it near the top of the smaller pancake as the lion’s nose.
Tip: Have the outer part of the strawberry (darker side) facing upwards.
Step 21: Last but not least, take two chocolate chips and make a vertical line going down from the tip of the lion’s nose.
Then take six more chocolate chips and kind of make a curve going upwards (three on each side). This will be the lion’s mouth.
Tip: The mouth will kind of be in the shape of a smile.
Step 22: Now that you are done, you are able to dive in and enjoy your animal pancake that you have made! Can you think of any other animals that you can make out of pancakes?
~Made by Jordan W.