10 “School Skills” Kids Can Learn at Home While Cooking
“Mom, I’m doubling this recipe” my almost 8 year old kid says as she mixes pancake mix with water, oil and eggs. “Great, go for it!” I say nonchalantly. Inside my head I’m doing a little happy dance. She read the directions on the box (language), gathered the items that she needed (following directions), measured ingredients (math) and doubled the recipe (more math). All of this is happening with a big smile on her face - she doesn’t know it, but she is learning.
As we enter the eighth week of at-home learning in BC, we are using some of our time to learn in the kitchen. We don’t have a lesson plan, but we are taking the time to talk more about concepts when they come up (what does a 1/3 of a cup really mean? How does baking soda work?) and exploring some food questions we don’t normally take the time to consider (where does the name ‘caesar salad’ come from?). We are eagerly anticipating the return of school (as early as next week for some schools), but for now we are busy doing some hands-on learning at home and producing some tasty results.
Cooking can teach children (and adults too!) so many great skills. Here are a few examples:
LANGUAGE
Reading, writing, and verbal communication through recipes.
Increasing vocabulary and introducing children to other languages (sauté is French, bagel is Yiddish, etc.).
GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURE
Exploring where different types of foods are from and the diets of different cultures.
Mapping the food miles of a meal, and the path food must travel to our plate.
AGRICULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
Learning about how and where different foods grow.
Discussing food miles.
Understanding how to reduce waste (both packaging and food waste).
MATH
Following a recipe includes counting, fractions, and measuring.
Many kitchen skills relate to shapes and spatial reasoning (cutting, plating).
Opportunities to introduce budgeting.
SCIENCE
Learning about parts of the plant and parts of an animal (cuts of meat).
Making observations and exploring food using our five senses.
Opportunities for experimenting and making predictions.
Chemistry: physical and chemical reactions in the kitchen (bread rising, bread to toast, emulsification, etc.).
HISTORY
Learning what people ate in the past and why.
Opportunities to explore different food preparation methods and tools, and how this has impacted our diet.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Understanding nutrition, food safety, and cleanliness.
CREATIVITY
Exploring new foods.
Creating recipes.
Using food as art (plating).
SOCIAL SKILLS
Learning responsibility, cooperation, sharing, self-esteem, and patience.
AND, CONFIDENCE!