Once a week the children in my centre get a chance to help cook their own afternoon tea and on this particular day they had chosen pikelets. Being a mixed age centre the experience is offered to any interested children regardless of ability. There is a selection of easy hands on recipes to make their choice from and our life not too hard. This week it was my turn to facilitate the cooking and I always find the mother coming out in me when its around hot equipment and had to remind myself to allow the children a supported opportunity to flip the pikelets over. Te Whāriki states “Children develop confidence that they can participate and take risks without fear of harm” (Ministry of education 1996 p. 52) “Educators in early childhood are to scaffold children’s learning in this area we need to broaden our understanding of technology to continue to extend our own knowledge” (Smorti 1999, p.5).
There is no doubt about technology making life easier when it comes to cooking with the children. Once the eggs were broken into the bowl inclusive of a little egg shell that P managed to add, T added the sugar. They then all got to use the electric egg beater, those eggs got a good beating once eight little hands had had a turn.“It’s like marshmellow Erin”
“No it’s all fluffy like the clouds”, P corrected S.
“Why has it all changed colour?”
“Because when you were mixing it you have trapped air in the eggs and sugar and that has caused the mixture to change its appearance”.
As we added the dry ingredient and milk the children could see another change take place in texture.
Once mixed the children added spoons full of mixture to the heat and we could see another change, bubbles started to form in the mixture as it cooked, that’s when they were ready to flip them over.
So many aspects of learning occur when we cook, mathematics, the science of cooking, language and social skills all interlinking and supporting each other.
Smorti (1999) suggest that often technology is similar to the current approach to creative arts, it is the process of doing rather than the product.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to learn life skills. This can be especially helpful when children are on their own and won't have to rely on fast food and junk food to sustain them. Hopefully I could try a cooking activity at my centre.
ReplyDeleteI like how the children get to make their own things and in this case, make their own food. I was glad that you added some conversations between you and the children because it gave me a better and clearer understanding of what was happening. Also, by reading the conversations, I got to see the children's points of views, which is great. I have more of an idea of what the children thinks. This looks like it was enjoyable moment for the children; to cook their own meals.
ReplyDeleteI would like to have the chance to facilitate cooking with children. Cooking is purposeful, creative and intersting activity. Through this activity children acquire the knowledge about the process of cooking. They learn about problem solving, learn to use modern technology (the eletric egg beater). They use their physical, social, emotional and language skills (when talking with the teacher and to each other). The activity also encourages active learning rather than emphasizing that children listen passively to adults. I think it would be nice to share the pickelets with children after cooking.
ReplyDeleteYes, maths, science, technology are social studies are always interrelated. This reflection great linked to the concepts of technology. Well done. How would you extend children's interests in food tech?
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