I found this wonderful video on UTube. It shows how 2 very young children (5 years and a toddler) prepare a wonderful smootie! See how they do it. An execellant example of kids and cooking and teaching while cooking.
Watch the kids confidence and the fun they are having. There is a lot of encouragement and guidance. They need to mix and think and move - there is muscle movement. And they have their own preparation building pride for their work.
How do we teach kids science issues related to plants such as evaporation, osmosis, cells and absorption?
The kitchen provides a great opportunity to teach our kids about plants, their need for water and bringing them back to live within a few minutes. Did you know that the wilted vegetables from your refrigerator offers tremendous amount of teaching lessons?
I did not think about it too much until I saw some wilted leave vegetables in my refrigerator.
I told my kids I will show them some magic.
I said that I would magically make the vegetable come to live!
Make your kids place the vegetables in a bowl of water.
Walla! After just a few minutes, the leaves have regained their freshness
What happened?
The way you explain to your kids depends on your kids’ ages, understanding and keenness. Apply your best judgment in explaining. I personally think, we should not transform it into a classroom type scenario. It would not work in getting their interest. The explanation needs to stick in their minds.
You may wish to use these explanations:
Plants lose water through evaporation – like how we sweat. Can you see the sweat when you play?
Plants are made of cells – just like how we build a building with bricks. There is water in the cells, which is lost through evaporation. Evaporation is where water is lost into the air. It leaves the plant.
The water will not be replaced if you don’t give your plant or vegetables water.
They will start to lose their shape and strength and become floopy.
Water your plant or keep your vegetable in water for a while, and it will regain its shape.
Plants takes in water by a process called osmosis. (Figure out something funny for them to remember the word – particularly for the older kids)
This is why a wilted plant or even a wilted stalk of celery will become firm again if given water.
I found a great breakfast recipe, where your kids can easily make. This recipe is suitable for children aged between 3 to 6 years - they can work on their own with little adult supervision. The recipe below is simple and easy to read and follow. You can increase the print size if you like.
Why would we ask our kids to prepare a meal?
1. Our kids will need to read the recipe
2. Our kids learn to follow instructions
3. Let them be creative with the recipe
4. Measuring and counting and estimating all in less than 15 minutes or so
5. Builds their self esteem and confidence, which is perhaps the strongest reason
I don’t bother asking my kids to clean up too much. It would take the fun out of the exercise for them. It must be gradual and with help, I think. That way, they will keep coming back!
Kids,
Here is a neat recipe to help you surprise your mum and dad. Its breakfast – easy to do.
What you will need:
1. 1 Slice of ham/bacon/roast chicken/or any meat
2. 8 small spinach leaves (but you can change it if you want – you can use sweet corn, frozen peas, spring onion or any vegetable that you or your parents fancy)
3. 8 cherry tomatoes
4. 4 eggs
5. About a matchbox size of cheese
6. 4 slices of bread, toasted, buttered – for eating with your dish.
My boy wrote this piece in Chapters. Chapter 1 was about how he felt about cooking. For the second Chapter he wrote about ‘Cooking Technology’. See Chapter 1 on this blog.
Again I have reproduced Chapter 2 here – except for spelling and perhaps some grammar, this is my son’s original piece.
Cooking Technology
If you don’t know how to cook, watch the Asian Food Channel on TV. My favorite show is Restaurant Makeover. It’s very interesting because it turns a bad restaurant into a good restaurant. A Bad Chef to a Good Chef.
You need to learn a few things in school to be a chef. You need to learn math, science, and English. Math is to help you know how to measure like how much water you need to add to your cooking. English is to understand cooking and read recipes. Science is to know about what is happening in cooking.
We learn things from cooking like knowing the right ingredients and making food delicious. You can also make drinks.
The end
P.S. My son's musings got me thinking, about children having ambitions to become chefs. I found some books. I reading the Chef's story - its about their passion and what got them into the kitchen. Interesting read. There are others, if you are interested.
Our children are angles, with dreams, creatively and imagination. If adults did not forget these child thoughts, the world would probably be a better place.
My elder son loves the idea of cooking. He is nine. He gets into the kitchen with me more frequently compared to my younger son. He says that cooking is all about making someone happy. People should be happy eating the food we prepare and serve.
He loves writing too! And perhaps cooking has over the years injected the idea of writing and the power of the pen. I have noticed that he tends to express himself through the written word.
I found this mussing in one of his note books. He let me read it and said that I should share it with others. I have reproduced his piece here – except for spelling and perhaps some grammar, this is my son’s original piece.
What I feel about cooking: Chapter 1: How I Feel
I feel great when I cook. I might be a kid but am great at cooking and when I grow up I’ll be a chef. They’ll call me Chef K! The most famous chef in the galaxy!
You have to pick the right ingredients. Otherwise your food will smell like a dumpster – Ewww, gross!
I cook soup while I am a kid, which I am. But I will cook all sorts of food when I grow up.
I also think cooking is the best way to earn money. I might even be rich. I could help lots of people then.
slI found a fantastic book on Amazon.com, on Cooking with Children It is written by Marion Cunningham who is probably best known for her work on the Fannie Farmer books. In Cooking with Children she shares her experience on teaching both children and parents the basic skills for the kitchen.
The book is really for children age seven and older, the books is designed partly to instruct and partly to provide an opportunity for parents and children to share in preparing and eating meals--an element of family life that is quickly vanishing in this age of busy schedules and microwave meals consumed on the run.
There are 35 favorite recipes, from vegetable soup to a birthday cake in color.
I like the the book because it is easy to follow and we can get our kids to read it. It provides great guidance in the kitchen and to prepare nice and delicious meals. And it keeps it simple. And the book is not very expensive - it used one is going for less than US3.00. A new one about US16 but i think you can get it at USD6 or USD7 if you buy within a certain time period. A few of our friends bought the book and they really loved it and asked me to get it. I got one for myself rather than borrowing. And books you gonna use in the kitchen will definately get stains and drips of this and that. Best to get one of your own which you can keep and refer all the time.
Have a look. Click on the picture or any of the the links on the article.
Valentine is coming and I thought I spend some quality time with my kids. I spent yesterday baking cookies with my 2 boys. We made some butter bookies – my intention was to have love shaped cookies but instead my boys had different ideas – there were shapes of birds and bears and stars.
But there is definitely LOVE in the air. My boys enjoyed the whole process. They was butter and flour splattered all over. We (or should I say they) changed the recipe a bit and there was a lot of learning and teaching for both my kids and myself included. Sometimes, we adults need reminders too and kids can teach us a thing or two too!
The kids learnt how to beat and mix. My younger one asked questions – Why was the yolk yellow, why this flour and not that and so on. There was a bit of math but most of all there was a lot of imagination and fund. And the best part about the whole cooking process was everybody loved the cookies! They tasted really good.
125 grams of butter (or about a cup) Learning Tips 1. How do you measure 125 grams (what is one cup?) 2. 1 kg makes a 1000grams – 125 must be 1/8 of a kilogram 3. Where does butter come from? (No, not the supermarket!)
100 grams icing sugar (or about ¾ of a cup) Learning Tips 1.Where does sugar come from? 2. What’s 3/4 ? What’s ½? Which is more? Which is less?
1 egg yolk Learning Tips 1. Egg yolk and egg white – what are they – see how they look like 2. Where do eggs come from? 3. Why is egg good for you? 4. What do eggs have?-What is protein 1 tsp vanilla essence Learning Tips It smells really good but taste horrible. Introduce the senses. Vanilla is a flavoring from orchids and is actually a Spanish word "vainilla"or little pods. Here’s how it looks.
150 grams to 200 grams of flour (or 2 cups flour)
Learning Tips
1. What is flour’s texture 2. How do you get 200grams of flour? 3. Where does flour come from?
Baking powder is to help the cake rise. How does it work? Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of muffins, cakes, scones and biscuits. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture.
Instructions 1. Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy 2. Mix in egg yolk and essence 3. Sift flour and baking powder 4. Add the dry ingredients to form a soft dough 5. Let your kids enjoy shaping the cookies 6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 12 to 15 minutes 7. Allow to cool and serve 8. If you like you can make some cream to decorate the cookies – beat some icing sugar and butter and add color of your choice and cream the cookies
Ice Lemon Tea is a gorgeous drink. My kids love having the drink, probably because of the tangy taste from the mix of tea and lemon.
An ordinary glass of ice lemon tea is such a great thirst quencher. For me, I take it without sugar. I like the taste of tea and the sourness of the lemon. And the combination makes a good internal clearner.
Here's a simple way to make a glass of ice lemon tea:
One black tea bag simmered in hot water Add sugar (it would be better to caramilised sugar - heat water and add about 2 tablespoons of sugar) Squeeze half a lemon (you can substitute it with lime) Add everything together. Mix Lastly add ice.
As you mix and stir and caramalise, talk to your kids and you can teach your kids several things in just perhaps 10 minutes:
1. Tea Which part of tree does tea come from, how is tea made (you can refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tea) for guidance. For older children, explain how black tea can be good for health
2. Sugar Does sugar come from plants or chemicaly processed. Sugar actually comes from sugar cane. Caramilising sugar changes its form - why - because heat changes the molucule structure of sugar.
3. Lime and Lemon There is a difference between the two. One is usually green and the other is yellow. Interestingly, lime grows in tropical climates while lemon in colder climates.
Have a fun time with your kids. You will find that its a beautiful experience . Watching kids making drinks - mixing and stiring. And let them concort mixtures. It gets them thinking, their imaginative mind is triggered and their general knowledge just explodes in a matter of minutes. And quite often ignored is the development of their motor skills. ITs simply abrilliant mix!
Do you get your kids asking for snacks or saying that they are hungry or there is just nothing to eat!
In situations like this, I look to the good old PANCAKE. There are other quick bites too but I thought I’d share with you my simple pancake recipe in this blog.
Pancakes are quick, easy and tasty snack.
Have a look at this recipe, it’s extremely easy to remember and easy to make. It makes about 5 to 6 pancakes.
Lets see how to get your kids involved and what they learn with such a simple recipe.
Shopping Listand Parent’s Teaching Aid
1 cup self raising flour (self raising flour is better than plain flour because of its enhancing structure)
1. What is flour 2. What is flour’s texture 3. What is flour made of 4. Numbers – 1 cup
1 cup milk (for kids, please use fresh milk or full cream. Low fat milk is simply not encouraged for kids
1. Where does milk come from?2. Fresh milk vs ow fat milk because of the low fat content 3. What does milk have? 4. Why is milk good for you 1 egg
Let your kids break the egg. Show them the yolk
1. Where do eggs come from 2. Why do eggs have the yellow and the white 3. What happens if you boil eggs 4. Where do chicks come from
Notice that everything comes in 1.
For older children – this is a simple and great recipe to teach multiplication and division and using common sense
e.g. 1. How much flour, eggs and milk I need if I need to make 10 pancakes 2. What happens if I half the ingridients? (Teaching fractions) 3. What happens if I double or triple the ingridients? (fractions and multiplying)
A little sugar and salt Not too much. Only enough to give a taste.
Blend everything together. Have your kids know what’s little or a lot
Place some oil in a pan and fry the pancakes a little at a time You can help your kids. Be careful of the fire. Teach kids about fire and how something that was raw gets cooked with fire.
Serve as is or with butter and honey or marmalade or fruit, or anything that the kids or adults like.
Mums and Dads,
I hope you and your kids have a wonderful time making the pancakes.
Please let me know how they turn out and whether your kids learnt a lot more that either of you thought!
Dear Parents, I hope you have been enjoying reading experience this blogs on applying cooking to teach our kids.
If you would have noticed, for a lot of the articles, I set out links to information that could be useful to you if not directly, indirectly in your dealing with your kids and the whole cooking experience. Being an accountant, I have also included some elements of finance. Its for your convenience and I thought that a lot of these material, are an excellent choice and provides value for money.
For this entry, i thought to provide some easy reference information and material that could be useful in teaching kids and cooking. The internet is a huge place and there’s just everything of everything everywhere. And sometimes, we just want something simple. How to get the kids to eat or even trying to figure out what to Ccok.
Some of the books and resources are from Amazon and a lot of others from various places, which I thought are quite good.
Kid Approved Meals! 13 Weeks Of Breakfast & Lunch Menus That Are Kid-Tested & Mom Approved, With Categorized Grocery Shopping Lists Accompanying Each Menu. Perfect For Homeschool Families, Stay At Home Moms, And Daycare Providers
This site http://astore.amazon.com/http1teachinb-20 has some great books and ideas in one page. The prices are also reasonable and constantly with ideal promotions. The books are about recipes but what is more interesting is that there are selected books about cooking and kids.
I do hope enjoy these resources. Do let me know if there are other useful resources for other mums and dads. Glad to post it on the blog
I found this wonderful video on UTube. It shows how 2 very young children (5 years and a toddler) prepare a wonderful smootie! See how they do it. An execellant example of kids and cooking and teaching while cooking.
issues related to plants such as evaporation, osmosis, cells and absorption?
in front of you
It is written by Marion Cunningham who is probably best known for her work on the Fannie Farmer books. In Cooking with Children she shares her experience on teaching both children and parents the basic skills for the kitchen. 
