A favorite school activity in my house is making cookies. Baking and cooking are a wonderful way to demonstrate several lessons.
- following directions
- science
- math, more specifically fractions
- home economics
- reading skills for younger children
- kitchen safety
- importance of washing hands and cleanliness
- organization
On today’s baking menu: chocolate chip cookies
Today’s helper: Alyssa, my preschooler.
Letter of the day: C
Math extension: counting and discovering fractions
The first step before thinking about touching anything kitchen related is washing your hands. Pink Lady scrubbed in like a surgeon! She learned about how germs like to hide on your hands waiting to jump onto other surfaces to seek, invade and destroy…oh…sorry…we get a little dramatic at times for fun.
Here’s Alyssa going over all the items in the Curious Chef Measure and Prep set and all the ingredients. She counted the eggs, measured the chocolate chips, and helped me determine that two sticks of butter equaled on cup for our recipe. I briefly explained in simple terms how the 1 Cup scoop represented the whole and the others were part of the whole. I demonstrated that 1/2 meant we needed 2 scoops to equal 1 whole. She then helped determine the number of scoops needed to make 1 whole from the rest of the scoops.
Once you have all your supplies ready, it’s important to read the instructions to your child. At this point you can ask her what comes first, next, and last. Be sure to repeat each instruction and have her carry it out only correcting if she forgets something or does not understand. This will encourage listening and following directions.
Alyssa measured the ingredients and got to work! The recipe called for dissolving 1 tsp baking soda in 2 tsp.of hot water. This called for a preschool sized science lesson water and making solutions.
Allow your child to participate as much as she is able. This is not about neatness or the perfect sized cookie. This is a time to explore fun through cooking which will in turn instill valuable lessons. You also encourage motor skills by allowing your child to scoop the cookies.
When all is finished and you both enjoy cookies and milk, be sure your child is also enjoying a sense of pride and accomplishment. Those are also important lessons to instill in a child. A confident child will feel the freedom and curiosity to explore the more of the world around her. Hands on lessons also teach a child there are more ways than one to solve problems so you build critical thinkers. All that an a cookie? Who can resist?
To further enhance the letter “C” and counting lesson, I used the C is for Cookies printables from Itty Bitty Bookworm to enhance the lesson. Here are the printables for you to print off. C is for Cookie. This a an adorable way to practice counting!
Another point I would like to highlight is giving your child her own kitchen tools. My children all love to bake and cook. Instead of providing them with unusable kitchen toys, I love to give them kitchen tools that are safe and can be used to make real food. A child who has her own cooking tools tends to participate more in the kitchen and extends those lessons to her own play kitchen later on. Alyssa is often repeating the fractions lesson while playing fantasy kitchen.
Do you see that adorable set of measuring cups, spoons, bowls, and lids? That was graciously provided by Curious Chef. The set shown is the 17 piece measure and prep set which includes measuring cups, measuring spoons, kitchen timer, mixing spoon, 3 piece bowl prep set, shopping list pad and stickers. This isn’t play kitchen stuff. This is real solid, as good as it gets, kitchen stuff. Since I was reviewing this product, I decided to put it to the test.
Written by Richele, classical and Charlotte Mason inspired, homeschooling mom, to four reflections of God’s love. She blogs at www.underthegoldenappletree.blogspot.com.
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