Today, I was on activity duty and I asked the children what they would like to do? Child L replied, "Make pikelets." Child A said, "Ya pikelets!" So, I decided to make pikelets since the children were interested in it. I took out the recipe book from the cupboard and invited the children to participate in the cooking activity. Several children sat around the activity table and waited for me. I read the recipe aloud and was looking for the ingredients which consisted of plain flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs and milk. The eggs and milk were in the fridge. We need the measuring cups, a mixing bowl, fork, and also margarine for cooking. I lined up the cups according to their sizes and explained to the children about weight and volume. Child L was very excited and yell out, "I like pikelets, yum yum!"
I pluged in the pan and warned the children not to touch it as it was hot and also explained to them about safety issues. Five children sat around the table and I guided them to take turn and to pour in the ingredients into the mixture. Te Whariki, Communication Strand states, "Children develop responsive and reciprocal skills, such as turn-taking and offering" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 74). As we were doing that we werecounting the number of cups of flour, sugar and milk. Once the mixture was done, I did the cooking as the children watched and passed comments. Some of them were that one is bubbling and it's ready. according to Smorti, 1999, "Process cooking is a technological activity or system, developed, used and adapted by early childhood services to meet children's needs. (p. 6). It took some time for me to cook the pikelets and once they were done, all the children ate them for their morning tea. This was indeed a very exciting and great learning experience for all.
Hi Diana,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great activity to do with your children. You are so lucky that your children are interested in cooking. Mine are only interested if they don't have to do any work! I really like the way you made the experience about weight and volume, safety and turn taking as well as about the cooking and eating.
Hi Diana, I really enjoyed reading your blog about making piklets. It is great we emphasis the importance of safety and bringing maths and science into our cooking experiences.
ReplyDeleteHello Diana,
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you follow the children's interest. It will make them participated more because they choose that particular acitivity. They learn and develop so many skills such as social skills when they interact and taking turns. They develop concentration, mathematic and science concept. I also like how you explain to them the safety issue. I think that that's the most important of all. Lastly but no the least, it's important that you do it with them again and again so that they get the idea.
Next time you could ask children to read the recipe with you or you guys can make an own recipe after the activity. How would you extend children's interests in food technology?
ReplyDelete