Help! My Child wants to cook with me.

Almost every aspect of learning can be incorporated in cooking activities from colors, textures, smelling, pre-science, developing vocabulary, visual awareness, and measurements. Children constantly learn literacy in cooking activities because they are picking up on new words for foods that they are being introduced to and are cooking with. They learn how to following directions and you can even teach geography by introducing foods from different areas or discussing where certain ingredients come from.

Preparing the ingredients, picking out what to make that can increase vocabulary. Measuring out ingredients can teach math skills and watching water heat up and boil can also be a lesson in pre-science. Be sure to talk to kids throughout the activity and ask open-ended questions and engage your kids throughout the time they are doing the activity.

There is so much that kids are gaining. Besides introducing them to healthy eating habits and introducing good nutrition early on, they can start learning all sorts of things from academic skills to fine and gross motor skills. They learn how to follow directions if you talk to them about a recipe and it’s also great in incorporate things like pictographs or books into the cooking so that it takes the learning beyond the kitchen.

So take a deep breath and sit your kids up on the counter to help you with all of your holiday baking. Keep in mind, “It’s the process, not the product!”

THIS MONTH…

★ Caring
★ Giving & Receiving
★ Letters; h, i, j
★ Winter Animals
★ Performance

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
-Larry Wilde