School in the Kitchen

(continued from Turning Chores into Education)
I also like to have the kids help in the kitchen, although not all at the same time. Sometimes they are just watching, but I try to find something on their level to do. Sometimes, it's stirring, or getting something from the fridge, or adding seasonings or washing vegetables. We talk about food groups as we cook – name vegetables, name meats, what is dairy, what is protein, what is carbs, what has sugar in it, etc. I also teach them about different seasonings. At one time we tried to grow oregano, basil and chives, so they are learning about herbs as not just something you get from the store, but they originate from herbs or other plants.

They learn proper care of food, such as not touching raw meat or eating raw meat. 'Why, Mom?' questions then lead to discussions on bacteria and how heating food kills the bacteria (germs). The same for washing hands. They help me put food away, by sealing it, by putting things in the fridge, etc. This can lead to explanations of how food spoils or what is mold (when things do go bad, yuck!). I think including kids in our everyday activities can lead to all kinds of discussions on how the world works if we decide to take the time to answer their questions and present them with opportunities to be curious. It does sometimes take a lot of effort to include kids in the chores and it certainly not necessary to include them in every chore every day, but those everyday type chores can definitely teach kids a lot when we do take the time and energy for it.

I also let the girls help me debone a chicken. After the chicken is cooked and cooled, they help me separate the meat from the bones, the skin and the ligaments. I told them the names of the bones (I looked it up online to make sure – like the sternum, clavicle (collar bone or wishbone), vertebra). I also showed them the ligaments (joints) and how the bones are connected together. The kids like to help with this deboning process and they learn a lot from it. Later, we might just be talking about our own anatomy and the kids will point to joints and tell me how are bones are connected by ligaments. They not only have learned the terminology, but through the hands on process of deboning a chicken, they have a visual understanding of what a ligament is, what bone structure is, etc. It's more than just a vague concept from a book.

Finally, one night my husband and daughter made me cookies (how sweet!) and my husband turned it into a reading lesson. He had her get out the cookbook and read the recipe. She is just learning how to read, but she could pick out some of the words (like 'cup', 'eggs') and with some help could put together a lot of words (like 'butter' 'oats'). He taught her that 'tsp' means teaspoon. He had her go find the ingredients that she read and then had her read the label to see that the words match (like baking powder – she knew what to get when told to get the baking powder, but this was the first time that she actually read the label). It turned out to be a great reading lesson. She had so much fun, she didn't even realize that Daddy had turned it into a school activity. And the cookies were great too! It will be great having daughters that know how to cook....