Ten “School Skills” Kids Can Learn at Home While Cooking

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!

Go Ahead and Get “Soily”: Ten Things Kids Learn in the Garden

Yesterday was a big day at my house, our windowsill garden started to SPROUT! We planted our seeds and waited... waited... waited. Just when we thought that maybe we did it wrong, POP, POP, POP, sprouts shooting up in all our pots (tomatoes, beans, and peas). Now you are probably thinking that this doesn’t sound very exciting, but two things: We have been socially isolating, so these sprouts are the only live “guests” we have had in a couple of months. We also have a 7-year-old kid, and the best thing about kids is that they appreciate how cool seeds and sprouts are. They are genuinely pumped to see those little sprouts pop out of the soil. Not only are these little sprouts adding some excitement to our life, but they are also an important part of the hands-on learning we are doing at home this spring.

What exactly might we learn from these sprouts? Here is a list:

Math: 

Counting, Patterns, Estimating, Measuring, Graphing, Calculating (volume, area and weight).

Easy “Peasy” Garden Math Activities:

• Count the seeds

• Make a pattern with seeds 

• Measure the growth of seedlings

• Graph the growth of a seedling over time

• Estimate the number of seedlings that will grow or how many (fruit/vegetables) we will harvest

• Calculate the weight of your harvest 

• Calculate the volume of soil you will need to fill planters

• Calculate surface area of a leaf  

Science: 

Seeds (and their parts), pollinators, water cycles, parts of the plant, senses and seasons (this list could go on forever). The garden is also the perfect place to conduct a little science experiment. 

Easy “Peasy” Science Experiment to try:

1) Plant seeds in three small pots label them as 1, 2 and 3:

• Give seed 1 just water (put it in a dark spot)

• Give seed 2 just sunlight (no water)

• Give seed 3 both sun and water

2) Make a hypothesis about what might happen.

3) Let the seeds grow for about 2 weeks. 

4) Keep a log of how all three seeds are growing and test your hypothesis.

* For older learners you could try other variables (feed one seed soda instead of water, play nice music for one seed, put one seed outside and one inside). 

Responsibility:

Watering, ensuring adequate sunlight, fertilizing and transplanting are great responsibilities that kids can take-on in the garden. Building a sense of responsibility will be useful in school, friendships, within your family, and in the community.  

Resiliency & Creativity:

One of the best opportunities for learning in the garden is when things don’t work out as planned. When things don’t grow (or they wilt, freeze, or overheat) kids have the opportunity to learn that it is ok to fail and also have the opportunity to think creatively to solve the challenge.

Appreciation:

An appreciation for the amount of planning, work, and care that is required to transform a seed to a fruit/vegetable. Even more appreciation for the farmers that grow food on a much larger scale.

Patience:

Remember the part at the beginning when I said that we waited ...waited ...waited? We only waited about a week, for a kid this might feel like an eternity, but it is a great way to practice being patient and a good reminder that instant is not always better. 

Ownership and Pride:

Kids will feel proud that they can tell their family, friends, and teachers about what they have cared for and grown. They might even get to share their harvest!

Go Ahead and Get “Soily”:

Soil, worms, and bugs sometimes get the bad rap as being, “eww - gross!”. Introducing kids to all the cool things soil, worms, and bugs do will make them more likely go ahead and get their hands soily. Science tells us that playing and working with soil is good for kids' mental and physical health. Grown ups too!

Dexterity:

Planting seeds, transplanting, digging, and harvesting are a great way to develop fine motor skills. This can be especially useful for younger gardeners. 

Discovery: 

Eureka! I see a tiny tomato! The garden is the perfect place to see many amazing things in action. It is a perfect place to discover shoots, buds, flowers, bugs, worms, fruit and vegetables. 

Blog Post written by Afton Bell of Growing Chefs!