Mummy, Do Cookies Grow on Trees?

My younger boy, who is five, watched Tiger and Pooh some days ago. The episode was very entertaining and had the usual learning ideas that children should take away.

I can’t remember the exact details now, but Tiger found chocolate cookies ‘growing’ on an oak tree in the 100 acre wood and so everyone thought that the best way to have more cookies was to take one from that tree and plant it. And after some time, everybody should get their very own chocolate cookie tree!


Yesterday, as I was sending my son to school, he asked about cookies and how wonderful if he could have a chocolate cookie tree. He loves chocolate and suggested planting a cookie tree!

This gave me an idea that he should learn where cookies come from. It was about time I showed him and maybe along the way, he’ll learn a thing or two.

Here’s what I did:

1. Look for a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe

2. Next build a shopping list and go shopping for the ingredients

3. Start baking

4. While baking I showed my little one where flour comes from and salt and sugar and chocolate. If possible you either have your computer and the internet handy or prepare pictures beforehand. For older children (6 and above), slip in where the ingredients come from and how it gets here

This will take a bit of effort, a little homework on our part and also because he is not going to believe you immediately when you say that flour comes from wheat and sugar comes from sugar cane and so on.


Here’s a simple family recipe for chocolate chip cookies (I try to keep the recipes simple if the agenda is to teach my kids during that cooking time):

Shopping List

1 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 3/4 cups unsalted butter or margarine, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2cups chocolate chips (or more if you like) and of course one last ingredient which you can’t get from the store is lots of hugs and kisses.

You should get about 30 cookies from this recipe.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F



Place the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat until combined. Add egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat. In a smaller bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture little at a time. (during this time, chat your kids). Get your kids to stir in the chocolate chips. Mold the cookies onto the cooking sheet. Let your kids enjoy this with their little hands – it will be their creation. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes 10. And of course, great time to tidy up and for kids to understand this part too and sharing the responsibility.

Teaching Kids Where Cookies Come From while Cooking is the Best Way to Teach Kids, Dont you think? And you get to eat your product too!

Experience Cooking with Kids - Memories Your Children will carry forever

I found through my kids that cooking is a great advantage and a powerful tool. Through cooking and being in the kitchen, they have gained confidence, developed language skills and their imagination.

These are pictures of a menu that my son came up with. He used ordinary stuff he found around the house – pictures of food from books and magazines and toy food and play money. He glued them to a note pad he found lying around and he presented it as his menu with vegetables, meat and fruit and the prices to go with it.

Over time, he also wrote a cookbook (with me to help). He decorated it himself and we wrote down the recipes – some were ours and some were from books. He was extremely proud of the cookbook because it was his creation and we were always referring to it to cook. We are slowly building on the cookbook with family recipes and recipes we pick up as we go along.

These are simple activities but fun and the children learn a lot;
- Have your kids work together to write a cookbookand let them decorate it as they like – use things from around the house – colored paper, perhaps a hard cover for the cover of the book, pencil colors and other stationery. They could also paste dried leaves, spices and other things from the kitchen. Don’t forget teaching also happens when they label them.

- Help your kids write a menu – have them decorate it. Let them have a go at what to serve – appetizers, main meal, and drinks and so on.

- Always also have a note book handy to copy recipes which you and your kids can later transfer to the family’s cookbook

These activities teach children:

(i) Language skills – Understanding, Reading and Writing

Children are exposed to vocabulary – the younger ones learn words. Flash cards are fine but it is nothing like showing them the real thing. Pictures tell a thousand words and it sticks. Example – What is this? This is butter.

Bigger children learn to put together words – make them read recipes and the instructions and at the same time start a recipe book. Allow them to be free with their imagination.

(ii) Help children understand the importance of instructions

Cooking is really about following directions. A step by step method allows children to understand the importance of following instructions and you can show them the implications/dangers/consequence of not following directions.

If you are cooking with more than 1 child – assign them tasks and accountabilities and at the same time encourage them to work together. Cooking is a great opportunity to reinforce. - Concepts like “sharing,” “cooperation,” and “taking turns.” which also prepares them for life.

(iii) Grow the kids confidence
One of the greatest gifts that a parent can give to their children is to instill confidence in them. Cooking is a wonderful tool. There is no need to spend money on courses and seminars and such. Allowing children to start and complete tasks and giving them responsibility builds their self esteem. Cooking is especially wonderful for shy or timid children - the whole cooking process and what goes into is real confidence booster.

Remind yourself of your objectives. Children will make mistakes and a mess, especially the first few times. Allow them – the cooking experience must be positive, fun and relaxed. Help them clean up. Turn everything they do into a learning experience. And if you are too tired to teach them or not in the mood– that’s ok too because your children are having fun WITH YOU. This experience will become memories which they will carry forever.