The Cooking Book

Fostering Young Childrens Learning and Delight

Laura J. Colker

National Association for the Education of Young Children Washington, DC

Photographs copyright : Donna Dannoff: 13 Janice Langford: 18 Jean-Claude Lejeune: 73 Jonathan A. Meyers: 1 Ken Musen: ix, 11, 72 Marilyn Nolt: 60 BmPorter/Don Franklin: 50, 68 Cover artwork: Sandi Collins Illustrations: Natalie Klein Cavanagh Cezanne image: Musee dOrsay, Paris/Lauros-Giraudon, Paris/SuperStock Computer clipart: Corel Corporation Permissions: Block quote on page 4 adapted by permission of the publisher from R. DeVries, B. Zan, C. Hildebrandt, R. Edmiaston, and C. Sales, Developing Constructivist Early Childhood Curriculum: Practical Principles and Activities, (New York: Teachers College Press), 125126. Copyright 2002 by Teachers College, Columbia University. All rights reserved. Illustration on page 21 by Jennifer Barrett OConnell. From The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, by D.T. Dodge, L.J. Colker, and C. Heroman, (Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies, Inc., 2002), 446. Copyright 2002 by Teaching Strategies, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

Copyright 2005 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Second printing 2009. National Association for the Education of Young Children 1509 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-1426 202-232-8777 or 800-424-2460 www.naeyc.org Through its publications program the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides a forum for discussion of major issues and ideas in the early childhood field, with the hope of provoking thought and promoting professional growth. The views expressed or implied are not necessarily those of the Association. Carol Copple, publications director. Bry Pollack, senior editor. Malini Dominey, design and production. Natalie Klein Cavanagh, editorial associate. Library of Congress Control Number: 2004115557 ISBN: 978-1-928896-20-3 NAEYC Item: #140

Contents
Preface vii Part One. Food for Thought Chapter 1: Getting Started 3 Chapter 2: Setting Up to Cook 19 Chapter 3: Putting Safety and Health First 29 Chapter 4: Whats Cooking with Families? 43 Chapter 5: Learning to Cook = Cooking to Learn 51 Part Two. Lets Get Cookin! Introduction: Using Recipes with Young Children Recipes-for-One 77 Small Group Recipes 99 Art and Science Recipes 127 Recipe Index 143 References 145 Resources Childrens Literature 147 Cookbooks Related to Childrens Stories 74

148

Appendix Recommended Daily Food Choices for Young Children 149 Five Weeks of Nutritious Morning and Afternoon Snacks 150

1
Getting Started
hen starting up a cooking program with young children, it is important to keep the big picture in mind. How do you envision your program? Do you want to make cooking a regular part of your curriculum? Do you want children to use the cooking area for preparing and eating their morning and afternoon snacks? Do you want children to help decide what they are going to make? How can you ensure that children will be both supervised and independent while cooking? Will all children in your program participate in cooking activities? How will you accommodate childrens differing skill levels? These are some of the important questions that teachers need to reflect on before starting a cooking program. The answers to these questions will guide your teaching practices. The first part of this chapter highlights some of the initial considerations for implementing a cooking program. Next, the chapter presents some approaches to using the cooking area that will enable children to maximize their learning experiences.

Developmental readiness
By age 3, most children find cooking activities appealing. Nevertheless, not every child will be ready to start making recipesat least not without being introduced to the process and having a chance to experiment a bit. Just as children naturally explore books, sand, playdough, and other materials by using all of their senses, they initially explore cooking opportunities in the same way. You may find that some children in your program are so intrigued with cooking materials that they cant focus on

Chapter 1. Getting Started

doing any actual cooking. Zan, Edmiaston, and Sales relate the following example of this sort of cooking experience in a Head Start classroom.
Near the beginning of the year, Christie . . . and her teaching partner Gwen . . . were anxious to begin cooking and chose [a] muffin recipe. . . . At group time Christie demonstrated how to make a muffin. She showed the children (ages 3 and 4 years) how to measure by leveling off their measuring spoons with a wooden tongue depressor and how to measure and add water and oil without spilling. During the following few days, she sat at the cooking table during activity time, helping each child who chose to make a muffin. After witnessing successful muffin making and appropriate use of the materials, she decided to allow the children to make muffins independently, with adults nearby to supervise the use of the microwave. Checking in later to see how the muffin making was progressing, she noted that few children were really measuring. Most children were just dumping ingredients in the bowl. Christie explained to Gwen that these were beginning steps and that experimentation was necessary. She predicted that when the children saw the resultsinedible goothey would begin to follow the recipe. However, a short time later a classroom volunteer called her attention back to the cooking table where one child was holding the bottle of oil upside down and squeezing. The child watched, fascinated, while oil ran everywhere. (2002, 12526)

What went wrong and what could these teachers have done to avoid the problem? After they saw what was happening, the teachers recognized that the children needed time to explore and experience the ingredients and utensils without worrying about making a recipe. So before setting up a cooking activity again, they put flour in a clean sand table and gave the children measuring spoons, measuring cups, and sifters. The children poured, dumped, and sifted the flour. They also made pretend cakes and muffins. They experimented with adding water to the flour, observing that the more water they added, the thinner the flour paste became. Once the childrens experimental play started progressing to a higher level, the teachers decided that it was time to retry the cooking experience. This time, the children were ready to make muffins. You may find that some children will need to go through a similar messing about stage with any significantly new type of cooking material, just as they do when they first encounter a new art material. So be prepared to allow this exploratory period before you introduce any new type of cooking experience to young children.

Basic cooking techniques

After the children have had many opportunities to explore, take time to introduce them to basic cooking techniques like pouring and mixing. This progression fosters childrens success in cooking and also assures

The Cooking Book

you that children will be using implements properlyand safely. Teach each technique in two steps: First, introduce children to the technique by modeling how it is done and by verbally walking children through the process. This step works best either with individual children or with small groups of two to four children. Let children observe you several times. Next, give children practice doing the technique either with you or on their own while you watch, comment, and encourage them. After practicing several times, most preschoolers and kindergarten-age children can master basic cooking techniques. At this point, you can be confident in letting children do many cooking maneuversthose that pose no safety hazardson their own. Occasionally, you will want to check back with the children to determine whether they are encountering problems and to lend your support. When children are using techniques that have potential for accidentscooking with heat, cutting with sharp knives, grating, or grinding, for example adult supervision is a must, no matter how proficient children are (see Chapter 3, PUTTING SAFETY AND HEALTH FIRST). As you are introducing cooking techniques, look for natural teaching opportunities and raise questions to further childrens learning: How else could we remove eggshells from the hardboiled eggs if we didnt want to use our hands? What happens to the cream when we beat it with a whisk? How is measuring flour using a glass measuring cup different from using a metal measuring cup? How can we keep the lemon seeds from falling into the juice when using a reamer? Can you think of anything else we could use a huller for besides pulling out strawberry stems? The table Appropriate Ages and Activities for Mastering Cooking Techniques can be used as a guide in presenting techniques to children. You may choose to introduce these basic techniques in isolation or as part of beginning cooking experiences. Just be sure that you closely supervise the childrens mastery of techniques before moving forward. If you have children of varying ages in your program, make sure that younger children are proficient in the lower-level skills before introducing a higher-level skill. Not all children need to perform all skills. Take your cues from the childrens development. Once children are skilled in the basic cooking techniques and are aware of health and safety requirements, then they are ready for cooking adventures.

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Appropriate Ages and Activities for Mastering Cooking Techniques

Technique
Stirring/mixing Shaking Spreading Scrubbing Greasing Tearing/breaking/snapping Dipping Kneading Dredging Using basic cooking gadgets (whisks, basters, spatulas, strainers, colanders, cookie cutters) Wrapping Pouring Rolling (with a rolling pin or hands) Measuring Peeling with hands Cutting soft foods Using nonelectric appliances (food grinder, chopper, eggbeater, juicer/reamer) with adult supervision Cracking eggs Using electric appliances (blender, mixer, electric frying pan/wok)with adult supervision Cutting with a knifewith adult supervision Gratingwith adult supervision Mashing Coring, hulling, pittingwith adult supervision Peeling with a vegetable peeler Cracking nuts

Age
23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23

Activities for Practicing the Technique

Mixing pudding, combining ingredients in a bowl Shaking container of salt, making butter out of cream Putting peanut butter or cream cheese on crackers Washing vegetables with a brush Spreading butter or shortening on a cookie sheet Tearing lettuce, breaking off ends of green beans Placing bread in an egg mixture for French toast Making bread dough Rolling chicken pieces in flour Stirring batter, straining liquid, cutting shapes out of cheese Rolling lettuce leaves around filling, putting aluminum foil around a baking potato Pouring glasses of milk or juice, filling blenders or colanders Making cookie dough, meatballs Filling measuring cups and spoons Taking off eggshells, husking corn Slicing bananas, boiled carrots, or cooked potatoes Making peanut butter, lemonade

3 3 3 34 34 34 34

4 4

Tapping eggs at center and using hands to separate shell over a bowl Making smoothies, batter, sauting

4 4 4 45 45 45

Cutting cheese, hard-boiled eggs, bread Grating apples for applesauce, carrots for salad Using masher or fork on boiled foods, bananas Preparing strawberries, cherries, apples for eating Removing skins from potatoes, carrots Using a hammer or nutcracker to open nuts

The Cooking Book