Cooking is an art as well as a necessity of our lives. It can bring great joy to both the cook, as well as those who partake of the well-prepared meal and it can also be a valuable and nutritious addition to our overall health and well being. One might think that cooking and science have little in common, yet that is simply not true, as cooking offers a wide variety of opportunities to teach science to our young. By sharing quality time cooking with our children, they can learn valuable lessons not only in the ethic of work and responsibility but also in the area of science.
Experimenting In The KitchenSimple scientific experiments can be conducted within the comfortable confines of ones own kitchen and the end results can be edible! What an approach to science! Yet because the students are learning in a comforting and enjoyable atmosphere, it is not like the stifled book-learning approach to science. Cooking offers the child a hands on and tangible experience, while at the same time teaching them a life skill they can use daily. Children from kindergarten to college can gain practical applications and life-long knowledge by using this approach. Some example of fun experiments parents can incorporate include making candyfloss and ice cream. Making ice cream, for example, allows the exploration of the freezing point of matter. One can also talk about the role of temperature, whipping and foaming during the process. Children can learn a wide range of science concepts while they enjoy the learning process. What is more is that they get to enjoy a tasty treat at the end of the process.
Difficult chemistry concepts such as radiation, convection, conduction, energy and carbohydrate chemistry may seem overwhelming to many students, yet exploring and appreciating these science concepts during our food preparation can makes it a fun and exciting adventure. For a start, one can study the various forms of heat transfer and their different roles it play in the cooking process. With regard to specific foods, milk and dairy products can be discussed as you use them in your cooking, such as how the cows produce milk, what milk is made of, the nutrients within the milk and the difference between fermented and non-fermented products.
Plants can also be easily incorporated into our discussions. Cooking vegetables is a science itself. Even preseving them, such as kimchi, is an excellent introduction to food nutrition and preservation. By the way, talking about kimchi, in it lives a host of live organisms which one can conduct experiments on. Moreover, it also gives you an excellent opportunity to talk about Korean culture and food. Concepts such as osmosis, pH value, density of the food, as well as dissecting the vegetables to identify plant tissue and structure can be explored too.
With the wide variety of creative ideas for experimentation, the kitchen is a wonderful learning laboratory for people of all ages.
Kids are under so much pressure today, that time for creative and imaginative play takes a back seat to the day's pressing demands. Appointments, deadlines, finances and job demands dominate the thought processes of parents, while the importance of developing the cognitive skills, social skills, and problem-solving skills in children of all ages is often deemed better left to the schools. Kids are playing less at home and at school. Lack of creative play can hinder child development. Parents who want the best for their children must allow time for kids to play.
Children can benefit greatly from their own creativity. While some people mistakenly classify creativity as the possession of specific types of skills related to artistic expression, that's only part of what the term comprises. Creative people typically are better problem solvers because they are able to seek out unique approaches and solutions that others may not recognize. This can be a useful skill for any career, for their education, and for their future. To help children reap these rewards, parents can use arts and crafts for kids and other efforts to encourage creativity.
Handing over arts and crafts for kids is just part of the process. If you're standing over your children and passing judgment on their results, they are not going to feel comfortable with their creativity. Children will eventually develop the ability to evaluate their own work and others' work but now is the time for them to feel relaxed and free to use arts and crafts for kids as they see fit.
