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Cooking With Kids: Boost
Your Children’s Math And Reading Skills With These Recipes
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Written by Alice Currah, PBS Parents Kitchen Explorers Weekly Contributor
Most of
us who grew up watching “Sesame Street” are familiar with the song by the
lovable blue Cookie Monster called “C is for Cookie.” It is recognized by
millions of people around the world for its catchy tune and predictable
outcome: the Cookie Monster gets his cookie. The lesson for parents is that
learning to read should be fun, interactive, and engaging.
For the
Cookie Monster, “C” may be for cookie, but in our home, “C” is for cooking.
From the time each of my children was old enough to stand on a chair next to
the kitchen counter, I have tried to make our special time cooking or baking
together into a learning opportunity disguised as fun time spent well in the
family kitchen. I’ve tried to incorporate three important life skills that will
serve them well into their adult lives: math, reading, and cooking.
With
math, the focus for my preschool-aged son has been to count cups slowly in
goofy voices as we fill each one with ingredients for a recipe. We count them
again every time we dump them into a mixing bowl. With my older daughters, my
focus has been to help them understand fractions contained in recipes. It’s not
unusual for a conversation to go something like this: “We are going to make a
half batch of brownies. This recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of flour. How much flour
do we need?” Helping my 9-year-old daughter visually comprehend fractions
through cooking measurements has turned out to be a valuable teaching tool
considering her struggles with understanding fractions. Using whole cups, half
cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons, I showed her how to multiply and divide in a
way she could understand, which led to a light bulb moment for her. Much
frustration seemed to be wiped from Mimi’s memory once she got it — and boy,
did she get it.
Building
literacy skills through cooking not only gives children confidence in the
kitchen; it also encourages them to develop a hunger for reading and an
appetite for home-cooked meals. For preschool-aged kids, one tip I give parents
is to cook from easy recipes using ingredients familiar to their children. This
will instantly engage their interests if it is a dish they love. For example,
read the recipes together, and focus on enunciating words slowly and clearly,
then having the child repeat them. Aaaaaa-pple.
Apple! Consider
singing each ingredient in silly ways to captivate them and keep their
attention on task. As your children grow a little older and begin to recognize
letters, spell each ingredient out loud. Milk.
M-I-L-K. Milk. Teaching
young children how to read and say each word out loud correctly lays a strong
literary foundation to build upon. As an added benefit, when kids get to eat
the fruit of their labor, they learn another valuable life skill — cooking with
confidence!
Cooking
in the kitchen can be fun and educational without seeming boring or mundane —
and the quality time spent working together is a great way to strengthen not
only your child’s reading and math muscles, but also great relationships.
Here is
a link to 5 easy and delicious summer recipes from PBS Parents Kitchen Explorers to cook up in your family kitchen with
your children:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/encouraging-reading-skills-in-family-kitchen-recipes_n_1695987.html?slideshow=true#gallery/239643/0
More yummy recipes :
http://www.pbs.org/parents/kitchenexplorers/
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