Teaching Across the Curriculum

Use your time in the kitchen to teach across the curriculum. Relate what the child is doing to arithmetic, reading, science, and geography. Guided questioning is very helpful in expanding your child's field of knowledge.

Here is an example:

1) Have the child prepare Navajo Fry Bread (recipe below) and then answer the questions given.

2) Why do you think this is called Navajo Fry Bread? Look on a map and find where the Navajo Indians live.

3) Why did you use oil in the skillet when you fried your Navajo Fry Bread?

4) Describe how the dough felt when you kneaded it. Use as many different adjectives as you can think of to describe it.

5) What kind of shapes did you cut your Indian Fry Bread into? Which shape did you like best? Why?

RECIPE
Navajo Fry Bread

Mix together these ingredients (use a small bowl):

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

In another small bowl mix together:

• 4 Tbsp. flour mixture
• 2 Tbsp. warm water

After the flour mixture and warm water is mixed together, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured cutting board.

Knead the dough until it is soft and like elastic.

Roll it out so that it is flat.  Use a rolling pin.

Cut the dough into shapes using a biscuit cutter and table knife.

Pour a small amount of oil into a skillet. Heat over medium-high heat. Put your dough shape in the skillet and fry each side until golden brown.

Take your dough shape out of the skillet. Blot it with a clean paper towel.

Fry another dough shape until all the shapes are fried.

Serve your Navajo Fry bread with honey while it is still warm.

While Cooking with Young Children

While Cooking with Young Children

• Everyone should have a chance to see, smell, feel, and possibly taste the ingredients before they are combined, and after. This gives them an opportunity to compare and contrast.
• Help children observe and talk about contrast, color, texture, size, and shape.
• Help children observe and talk about what happens when ingredients are combined, such as the effects of temperature on food. Express in words that water is a liquid; when it boils, it changes into a water vapor called steam; when it freezes, it changes into a solid called ice.
• Use complete sentences and the correct words for all actions, objects and concepts, but always accept the child's unique way of expressing himself or describing something.
• Follow through on projects. Everyone should have a chance to taste what he or she has helped to make.
• Encourage all those who participated to share the responsibility of cleaning up. Show the children how to wash the utensils and sponge the surfaces. Make sure all utensils are clean before putting them away. Even if a spot has been missed, recognize the effort of little hands. Improvement in skills comes from guidance and practice, not criticism.

The Kids Recipe

There are many ways to prepare a recipe so that they are easy for young children to use. Here is one idea that you might use when incorporating kids cooking into your daily routine. Features of a children's recipe should include:

• Visual cues; drawings or illustrations of the ingredients to be used.
• Child sized, individual portions; each recipe makes one small serving that is just the right size for the child.
• Easy to count numbers and fractions; 1, 2, 3, 1/4, 1/2, 1/3.
• Consistency when using measures; Tbsp. for tablespoon, tsp. for teaspoon, c. for cup, and so on. 
• Type or write the recipe, add illustrations, and place in a plastic page sleeve.
• Keep recipes in a 3-ring binder that becomes the child's cookbook as they participate in cooking experiences.

We are discussing "Cooking with Kids in the Kitchen", a unit study that starts here.

Preparation for Cooking

1. Post a chart (or the recipe) where it can be easily seen. This chart should include pictures of the utensils along with pictures illustrating the measurement of ingredients (such as drawing of two teaspoons for 2 tsp.).

2. Before beginning, explain to the child (children) the importance of washing hands and putting on aprons.

3. Cooking projects are easily managed if the group is kept small (2 or 3).

4. Make sure work surface is clean and point this out to the children, explaining why.

5. Go over the recipe and all directions carefully with children before starting.

6. Have a tray of utensils ready with enough utensils available to keep the project moving. More than one child at a time might have a turn, if possible.

7. Have a tray of ingredients ready.

8. Have a sponge and a bowl of water available for quick clean-up (or a sink if there is a stool for children to stand on to reach it).

9. Show the children how to use the utensils properly and supervise their use.

10. Explain ahead of time that the children are not to put the food in their mouths and, if they must cough or sneeze, to turn away and cover their mouths, then wash their hands again. Explain why. (Tasting food during preparation time is "off limits" with any age student. Decide upon a procedure for tasting to alter the seasonings, etc. --- as as one spoon, then place it into the sink). Tasting of food should take place during planned educational events or activities rather than when preparing food.

Planning for the Cooking Experience

Planning for the Cooking Experience

At first, cooking projects should have few steps such as taking peas out of a pod (children ages 3 - 5), making a gelled pudding, popping corn or making cranberry sauce. This gives the children the experience of working with food. The careful washing and preparing of vegetables and fruits is another single activity.

Gradually, the experience could become more complex by incorporating more steps.

Always be receptive to the children's suggestions if they are within reason as to what they would like to make.

Be alert to the many ideas for food preparation which arise spontaneously out of other activities and experiences.

Safety with Kids in the Kitchen

Safety is very important when children are using real kitchen equipment. Impress upon them that safety comes first and teach them how to use kitchen gadgets properly.  Make adjustments when needed, substituting safer options for dangerous tools. Here are some tips that can help your child's kitchen experiences to be safe and educational:

• Help children become aware of sharp knives, grater, parers. Solid plastic knives (from picnic sets) have a good cutting edge and can be used by very young children.
• Keep all potentially dangerous utensils away from young children. Under very careful supervision, they might be able to use a grater or plastic knife.
• As the opportunity arises during cooking, point out the dangers of very hot water, the danger of burnable objects too near the stove (hotplate), the importance of turning off appliances after using them.
• Make sure all pot handles are turned toward the back of the stove and tell the children why; make sure handles are turned away from the edge of the table.
• Show the children how pot holders are used to avoid burns. Remind them that a wet potholder does not protect from heat.

Cooking Experiences with Kids

Suggestions for creating a positive cooking experience for young children (ages 3 - 7 and beyond).  Set up a cooking area in a corner of the family kitchen which is scaled to a child's size. A low table or counter top that can be established as the child's own work space for cooking is helpful. Miniature kitchen tools that are real makes learning fun!

Basic Equipment 

• One small refrigerator with freezer OR a specific portion of the refrigerator and freezer in the kitchen. This could be a low drawer or shelf.
• One toaster oven for baking (it is safer for beginners and scaled to a child's size).
• One hot plate (same as above, although a stove can be used safely with supervision).
• A low counter/work deck and cupboards to store utensils scaled toa child's size (for example: apple boxes make nice cupboards; set a wooden top over several apple boxes and cover with contact paper).
• A low counter top to place wash basin for washing dishes; place near a sink so water is available.
• Kitchen utensils scaled to a child's size: knives, scrapers, egg beater, wire whisk, spoons, mixing bowls, spatula, pancake turner, cake pans, cookie sheets, baking brush, measuring spoons, measuring cups, grater, muffin tins, etc. (keep alert for small items that work well for children; Corning stores have mini rolling pins, gratersthat are used for garlic and lemon zest and works well for kids tograte carrots and cheeses. Tupperware has child sized bowls and dishes; Echo has cake pans, bread pans, and baking sheets that are just the right size for use in a toaster oven).
• Clean-up supplies in small scale; dish towel, sponge, hand towels, hot pads, etc. Small bottle of dish soap.

Cooking with Kids

Play is a child's work. And work is child's play. This is illustrated so well in the kitchen! Children enjoy helping with putting cans away, chopping vegetables, setting the table, and stirring up a batch of cookies. Through imitation they learn from cause to effect, how to measure and count, sequencing, how to read a recipe, and much, much more. 

Instead of discouraging them by scooting them off to a toy kitchen or to make mud pies in the back yard, enjoying their help in the kitchen can create countless memories and provide them with a wealth of learning experiences. For the next few days the discussion here will be about cooking with kids. We'll start with ideas for sharing with toddlers through early elementary children and then progress to food experiences for middle school and even high school students.  

Children who practice food experiences with their parents, starting at a young age, learn the benefits of a healthy, nutritious diet. It is a well known fact that if kids get to help prepare a recipe in the kitchen they are generally willing to taste and enjoy the end result. The kitchen experience can help them explore new tastes, textures, and nutrients. Additionally, children will achieve a sense of belonging as they contribute to family mealtimes. A sense of accomplishment will result. 

Quality time between parent and child happens naturally when time is spent experimenting and preparing healthy foods in the home kitchen! Cooking is a skill that your children will use for the rest of their lives. If children learn to eat healthy as kids, they are more likely to eat healthfully as adults. Skill in the kitchen gives children self-confidence and a willingness to try new things. These kids will be less likely to be swayed by peer pressure, and as teens will enjoy spending time in the kitchen as an avenue to avoid boredom. 

So, stay tuned the next few days for posts that will share ideas for helping your youngsters enjoy time in the kitchen with you!