What combines art, math, reading, creative thinking, science, sensory experiences, and social skills, and results in delightful treats for friends and family? Cooking!
Cooking is full of opportunities for learning. It is the type of activity that can be part of a child's education, both at home and in the classroom.
Cooking exposes children to a variety of sensory and cognitive experiences. Children can see how food changes before their eyes. An egg becomes hard and rubbery after it is boiled. They learned to read recipes and measure ingredients.
Children can smell the aroma of foods and have many opportunites to feel different textures from soft, squishy pudding to hard, crunchy carrots. Call children's attention to hearing the different sounds of food, like the pop of popping corn and the crunch of fresh celery. Last but not least, children can taste different foods and enjoy the flavor.
Cooking also provides social opportunities and helps children develop social skills, like the importance of cooperation and sharing in a group. Selecting a recipe, gathering ingredients, taking turns stirring, pouring, chopping, and dicing can be a group effort. Cooking and serving meals and treats focuses around friends and family.
There is an art to cooking. Children use creativity as they find new ways to combine ingredients and up new recipes. There are many opportunities to design, decorate, and display foods in an appealing manner. Food presentation is so important --what looks good, tastes good!
This website will give ideas to create fun and tasty food that children will enjoy.
As always, please be sure that you follow safety rules when working with your children. Have fun but be cautious too!
This page is maintained by Susan Thomas.
Soups and Salads
Sandwiches
Main Courses
Desserts
More Recipes
Odds and Ends
