Pikelets anyone

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.

The wheels go round

After months of refurbishment and improvements to our bike track the children can now be cool kids that wear lids. The actual process in creating the bike track was of great interest to the children. When the digger came in and the workmen donned  their safety hats, the children worked alongside them in the sandpit, hats on shifting sand from one spot to the next. Te Whāriki (1996. p.98) states “children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world” This was the perfect time to introduce safety and the importance of keeping ourselves safe with links to the wider community, but this time the community was in our own back yard. Through the use of digital cameras we were able to capture the change in the outdoor area.

Through digital media we were able to keep the parents updated with progress taking place through a digital photo frame so the children could share what they were experiencing outdoors and the changes they could see happening with family. The children's learning stories are also enhanced by using photos to give visual display and description of everyday happenings. When the official opening of the bike track came we had an open day with the local newspaper there to spread the news of our outdoor facilities. The track is complete with road markings and pedestrian crossing to promote road safety in the community.

Since the opening we have had the Franklin council road safety zebra, Zeb, visit and talk to the children about crossing the road and where it is safe to cross. Friedman (2005) suggests the desire for children’s learning is often initiated by investigating things they already know and care about. The best feedback we have had is from one parent who said they were in the street about to cross the road and M said “No Dad we need to move up to the crossing to be safe”. “children develop awareness of the connection between events and experiences within and beyond the early childhood education setting” (MoE 1996, p.56)

What was once old is now new and there is never enough time nor bikes to share around, but I can honestly say it has been a great investment to the centre to bring our outdoor area into the twenty first century with a purposeful theme, all documented for the children to share with family and friends.