Cooking with children is a great way to educate them about the science of food, finds Nicole Weinstein in the latest in her series on supporting and resourcing learning for ‘Understanding the World’

Involving young children in baking and cooking is an ideal way to introduce them to the basic science behind how and why materials change. It also has strong links to understanding the world because shopping, preparing food and cooking are everyday activities that take place in the majority of homes and are some of the first experiences that children learn to relate to.

Practitioners should use every opportunity to teach children to prepare and cook food throughout the daily nursery routine and provide plenty of kitchen utensils for group cooking activities and role play.

CHANGING MATERIALS

Children will be aware of the consequences of changes in materials when they eat ice-cream on a warm day or hold a chocolate biscuit in their hand for too long before eating it. This is an example of physical change, whereby the material can be changed back to a solid just by changing the conditions.

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