littlecookhouse

How we can teach values via cooking

We’ve always heard that Sports is a good way to teach values and life skills. But what exactly are values and life skills? Can cooking do the same?

Values are principles or standards of behavior, and one’s judgment of what is important in life. In sports, it can mean things like sportsmanship, sports safety and teamwork. A life skill can be defined as a skill that we need to deal effectively with the challenges in everyday life, whether at school, at work or in our personal lives.

When it comes to cooking/baking, there are many values and life skills one can learn. Below are some examples:

• Values – Sharing, teamwork and creativity
• Life Skills – Cooking, measuring, mathematics, science, literacy and fine motor skills

Cooking/baking are great way for a child to pick up all these, because it is proven that learning by doing is the best method of learning. Children respond better when being engaged in practical activities, rather than reading from textbooks. They grow in confidence if you give them a task to do, which they are able to achieve.

We have seen worried, first time parents wondering if their 3 years old can complete the whisking of a cake mixture – Indeed, initially, the child is scared, clumsy and mixing it slowly; but just after a few whisks and with some encouragement, we see how they began to whisk with such confidence and skills, and a grin appears on their face. This is the confidence we want to build in every child.

Through the exposure to cooking and watching how ingredients transform into food, the children are able to learn about food source, how to handle it and how to create delicious dishes. They also learn about the need to be patience (eg. You cannot rush the rising of a dough nor the baking of a cake), and how to apply a range of mathematical skills (in dealing with numerals, weight and volume) and knowledge (why hands must be clean when dealing with food), while developing their English and communication skills (listening to instructions, reading recipes).

Through working together in small groups and deliberate set-up (eg. Allocating a different colour piping gel to each child), the children learn to share and cross learn from each other positive behaviours.

Learning all these requires repeated exposure, and that is when the home environment can help to reinforce this. Parents can make use of the recipe we provide to re-create dishes together, or simply get them to help out at the kitchen using their newly learned skills of whisking and cutting. You’ll be amazed by the benefits of cooking and baking!