How to Use Children's Literature and Cooking Activities to Teach Early Literacy Skills
Select an appropriate story introducing the cooking activity., Know your children's dietary restrictions., Consider your cooking resources., Select an appropriate food activity for making with a group of small children., If possible, prepare "recipe...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Select an appropriate story introducing the cooking activity.
The story could inspire the cooking activity.
For instance, the poem "Chicken Soup With Rice" by Maurice Sendak is a great opportunity to make chicken soup with rice.
Or, the desired cooking activity could guide your story selection.
For example, if you want to make bread, the book "Bread, Bread, Bread" by Ann Morris is a great introduction to bread around the world.
As always when selecting the book, be sure it is appropriate for your audience's development level.
Be sure to read the book first so you are familiar with it, so you are confident.
Understand firmly the connection.
For instance, in "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, the action centers around a coconut tree.
It also focuses on the alphabet.
Create or research food activities that center around the literature.
In the above example, consider: dissecting a coconut, coconut pudding, alphabet soup, sugar and coconut sprinkled alphabet cookies, and more. -
Step 2: Know your children's dietary restrictions.
Be sure to know if there are any children with allergies, especially: peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, wheat, and shellfish.
Check for other medical concerns: diabetes, lactose intolerance, sensitivity to food dyes, obesity, and so on.
Check for cultural restrictions:
Does any child keep kosher? Eat halal food only? Eat vegan? Some foods should be prepared with care for young children.
For instance, children under age one should not eat honey.
Hot dogs should be sliced horizontally for young children to avoid choking. , Depending on what you have available, you may need to modify your plans.
What kitchen cooking space do you have? Do you have an oven for making bread? Can a parent bring in an electric griddle for pancakes? Can you use a crock-pot for applesauce? How long will the activity take? A 1-hour library story time will not have the time to make a cake, cool it, and frost it.
But a full-day daycare program will.
How long will preparation and clean-up take? Be mindful of the time it takes to set up and clean up after the food is made.
How many adults will be available? Will you be doing this alone, or with another staff member or parent? Do you have the ingredients? Some programs will have plenty of funds for cooking, while others may have nothing budgeted. (In which case, you may need to ask for donations).
Do you have parents willing to help out? Many people love to cook, and will gladly share their expertise with children.
Parents can lend equipment like skillets, crock-pots, cookie cutters, bread makers, blenders, and the like.
If you are especially lucky, perhaps the owner of a restaurant, bakery or farm can offer a field trip.
Make an ingredient list.
You do not want to find yourself out of baking powder on the day of the activity.
Have everything assembled in your cooking area before you begin the activity. , Keep it simple.
If in doubt, choose the straightforward food activity over one that takes a lot of ingredients, time, or skill.
Applesauce is often a better choice than apple pie, for instance. (Although both are good.) Never do a recipe with a group of children you have not done yourself before! If in doubt, do a test batch yourself before attempting it with groups of children.
Sometimes, directions from the internet, books, and magazines turn out to be faulty or badly written.
Safety issues are extremely important.
Discuss this with children ahead of time.
Cooking is a potentially hazardous activity, and must be treated as such.
Some tasks are "adults only"
such as using the oven or using a sharp knife.
Some impulsive children may have great difficulty with this.
Understand developmentally appropriate tasks for children to do.
It is no fun for children to cook if you do all the work! What a toddler can do will be less than a first grader.
Also, some children may have difficulty with fine motor skills, or coordination, so be aware of these students. , Younger kids can use pictures, while older children can sometimes read words.
The children can read and follow the recipe by "reading" the picture cards.
Children learn to grasp pre-literacy skills in this way. , Cooking can be a very hazardous activity, and children need to know safety rules to reduce risk.
Children must wash their hands every time.
No exceptions.
Be sure that they also rinse completely, as they sometimes forget.
Children should not use sharp knives.
However, you can allow then to use a relatively dull butter knife and see what amazing things there are that they can accomplish with them.
Some things are adult or teacher-only.
This includes things like using the oven, using the cook stove, or any potentially dangerous activity (safety). ,, What do you think happened when...? (This encourages problem solving and critical thinking skills.) , (cooperation and taking turns) , Alternatively, divide the food.
Many children can each knead a bit of dough, cut and decorate a few cookies, or create their own miniature pizzas. , This encourages independence and self-sufficiency. , (pre-math) , (sequencing, another pre-math skill) ,, -
Step 3: Consider your cooking resources.
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Step 4: Select an appropriate food activity for making with a group of small children.
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Step 5: If possible
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Step 6: prepare "recipe cards" which are large cards with pictures of each step you are completing in the recipe.
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Step 7: Be sure to use food health and safety procedures!
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Step 8: Talk about how to measure and why you are measuring (pre-math).
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Step 9: Ask open-ended questions of the children
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Step 10: such as what will happen when we put this in the oven?
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Step 11: Be sure each child gets a chance to "help" in the activity.
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Step 12: If you have a large group of children
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Step 13: more than three or four
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Step 14: plan to do the activity more than once
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Step 15: dividing the children into groups.
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Step 16: Let the children help with the clean-up
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Step 17: Even though pre-school children cannot yet tell time setting a timer and asking them to watch the time with you
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Step 18: helps them to begin to develop a sense of time.
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Step 19: Point out that you must complete the steps in a recipe in a certain order to get the desired end product.
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Step 20: When the recipe is complete
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Step 21: enjoy the food with the children and congratulate them on their creation.
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Step 22: You may want read the story again as the children enjoy the food.
Detailed Guide
The story could inspire the cooking activity.
For instance, the poem "Chicken Soup With Rice" by Maurice Sendak is a great opportunity to make chicken soup with rice.
Or, the desired cooking activity could guide your story selection.
For example, if you want to make bread, the book "Bread, Bread, Bread" by Ann Morris is a great introduction to bread around the world.
As always when selecting the book, be sure it is appropriate for your audience's development level.
Be sure to read the book first so you are familiar with it, so you are confident.
Understand firmly the connection.
For instance, in "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, the action centers around a coconut tree.
It also focuses on the alphabet.
Create or research food activities that center around the literature.
In the above example, consider: dissecting a coconut, coconut pudding, alphabet soup, sugar and coconut sprinkled alphabet cookies, and more.
Be sure to know if there are any children with allergies, especially: peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, wheat, and shellfish.
Check for other medical concerns: diabetes, lactose intolerance, sensitivity to food dyes, obesity, and so on.
Check for cultural restrictions:
Does any child keep kosher? Eat halal food only? Eat vegan? Some foods should be prepared with care for young children.
For instance, children under age one should not eat honey.
Hot dogs should be sliced horizontally for young children to avoid choking. , Depending on what you have available, you may need to modify your plans.
What kitchen cooking space do you have? Do you have an oven for making bread? Can a parent bring in an electric griddle for pancakes? Can you use a crock-pot for applesauce? How long will the activity take? A 1-hour library story time will not have the time to make a cake, cool it, and frost it.
But a full-day daycare program will.
How long will preparation and clean-up take? Be mindful of the time it takes to set up and clean up after the food is made.
How many adults will be available? Will you be doing this alone, or with another staff member or parent? Do you have the ingredients? Some programs will have plenty of funds for cooking, while others may have nothing budgeted. (In which case, you may need to ask for donations).
Do you have parents willing to help out? Many people love to cook, and will gladly share their expertise with children.
Parents can lend equipment like skillets, crock-pots, cookie cutters, bread makers, blenders, and the like.
If you are especially lucky, perhaps the owner of a restaurant, bakery or farm can offer a field trip.
Make an ingredient list.
You do not want to find yourself out of baking powder on the day of the activity.
Have everything assembled in your cooking area before you begin the activity. , Keep it simple.
If in doubt, choose the straightforward food activity over one that takes a lot of ingredients, time, or skill.
Applesauce is often a better choice than apple pie, for instance. (Although both are good.) Never do a recipe with a group of children you have not done yourself before! If in doubt, do a test batch yourself before attempting it with groups of children.
Sometimes, directions from the internet, books, and magazines turn out to be faulty or badly written.
Safety issues are extremely important.
Discuss this with children ahead of time.
Cooking is a potentially hazardous activity, and must be treated as such.
Some tasks are "adults only"
such as using the oven or using a sharp knife.
Some impulsive children may have great difficulty with this.
Understand developmentally appropriate tasks for children to do.
It is no fun for children to cook if you do all the work! What a toddler can do will be less than a first grader.
Also, some children may have difficulty with fine motor skills, or coordination, so be aware of these students. , Younger kids can use pictures, while older children can sometimes read words.
The children can read and follow the recipe by "reading" the picture cards.
Children learn to grasp pre-literacy skills in this way. , Cooking can be a very hazardous activity, and children need to know safety rules to reduce risk.
Children must wash their hands every time.
No exceptions.
Be sure that they also rinse completely, as they sometimes forget.
Children should not use sharp knives.
However, you can allow then to use a relatively dull butter knife and see what amazing things there are that they can accomplish with them.
Some things are adult or teacher-only.
This includes things like using the oven, using the cook stove, or any potentially dangerous activity (safety). ,, What do you think happened when...? (This encourages problem solving and critical thinking skills.) , (cooperation and taking turns) , Alternatively, divide the food.
Many children can each knead a bit of dough, cut and decorate a few cookies, or create their own miniature pizzas. , This encourages independence and self-sufficiency. , (pre-math) , (sequencing, another pre-math skill) ,,
About the Author
Marie Bennett
A passionate writer with expertise in home improvement topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
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