What are some concrete benefits of cooking in the preschool classrom? Looking for good research links too.?

Question

I am doing an inservice for fellow preschool teachers, and I I chose cooking with children. I know it is a great enrichment in the classroom experience, and it teaches math skills. What else does cooking do for kids, and where is the research I can use to back this all up? Thanks in advance for your help. : )

Answer 1

In this activity (icing biscuits) the children will promote sensory, communication and intellectual skills. They can taste the biscuit, they can smell it. They can touch the softness of icing sugar. They can feel it and see how it looks, they will see the color. From this activity children will develop hand-eye coordination and intellectual skills. They will learn about shapes (biscuit are around), color (food color is pink), they will learn letters, names. Some of the children might write the names in biscuit. Children will think and have ideas; they will choose what to do. This activity will develop children concentration by measuring the requirements or when they putting the color. During this activity children will have a go; they will mix the icing sugar.

Answer 2

Cooking activities are also great for fine motor skills.

Here's a website that may be helpful:

http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com

Answer 3

When children do cooking projects, they learn about nutrition, taste and food groups, how heat and cold changes things, whole-part relationships, concepts of volume and measurement, vocabulary and awareness of other cultures.

Answer 4

Cooking and following recipes teaches us how to do things in sequence, and how to follow directions.  Those are 2 very crucial skills we need in life.

Answer 5

Science skills, nutrition, self-confidence (they can actually cook something!) communication skills (they talk about what they are doing) following directions, reading a recipe (you can find recipes in Mailbox that have picture for the kids to follow), it gets them to try new foods. Sorry, but I don't know of any research to back this up, but I think you can make it is kind of self-evident if you present it well.