Last week we talked about how you can make learning fun. This week I want to expand on that topic just a little bit. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do, now. It not only can be a way to creatively express yourself, but it is also a functional activity as well as it creates food to eat and utilizes concepts from math, reading and science subjects. This is why cooking is a great activity to do with your kids.
Cooking with kids can be just a fun and crazy creative activity, or you can enhance the activity by focusing on math concepts, reading skills and/or science concepts. To focus on math concepts during a cooking exercise all you have to do is introduce the various types of measurement used in cooking and show them how to double a recipe using math.
If you are interested in improving your child’s reading skills then you will want to focus on the reading and reading comprehension. This can be done by having your child read aloud the directions for the recipe all the way through, and then ask questions about what is the first step, second step, etc. Obviously, if they don’t remember a step they can refer to the recipe, especially for identifying measurements and ingredients.
If you are interested in focusing on science concepts during your cooking activity, then you will want to discuss the chemical reactions that occur in baking. You can also talk about the chemical properties of certain ingredients like baking powder, milk and water. You can also discuss the properties of matter by examining liquids, solids and gases.
The concepts and topics covered in home tutoring sessions need to be supplemented at home in order to reap the most rewards. Cooking activities are great for supplementing special academic tutoring and other tutoring services.
