Snack preparation has been a big focus for us. We are so lucky to have a Children's Kitchen. The expectations have expanded and the children have a lot to do! Through repetition, over the coming weeks these new skills and routines will become second nature to the children.
1. The children start by washing their hands and putting on an apron. They are beginning to understand that even when their hands look clean that they still need to wash their hands. They are beginning to understand that they have to wear and apron and keep the surfaces clean.
2. The children preparing the snack have to put the chairs in a pattern - boy / girl / boy / girl / boy / girl!
This is a target for us. We want the children to identify and continue a pattern.
This seating arrangement takes the children out of their comfort zone and means they have to sit beside someone they may not choose to! Also, some children still do not know the names of some of the other boys and girls! This new seating arrangement will help the children learn who everyone is!
Boy / girl / boy / girl also gives me a great opportunity to model the pronoun language: 'he', 'she,' 'his,' 'her.' Understanding and using the correct pronouns is a target that we want the children to master by Year 1!
3. The children have to cut the various fruit. The children have to peel the oranges. The children count the fruit. The children talk about how small or big they have cut the pieces of fruit. They talk about their likes and dislikes. The children are learning how to hold the fruit with one hand and cut with the other hand. Some children are still changing hands and working out whether they are right or left handed.
4. The children are 'wringing' out cloths. This is a great skill for them to learn and they find it difficult! It would be a great activity to promote with your child in the bath! When their cloth is wrung out they wipe down the benches.
5. Cutting the bread and bagels into half and quarters, is exposing the children to these mathematical terms in context. The children can see that the bagels are circles and the bread is square shaped. The children use the knives safely and can see that the crocodile teeth are sharp!
6. We boil some eggs and again the children count how many we need. We look at the chart to see who likes eggs and we put one on for each of those children.
7. The children have to pour the milk. We 'fill' the 'empty' jugs. The children have to assign the correct number to the empty cartons. Then when they have finished they cleaned up any spills.
8. The children have to make sure each child has a chair, a plate, a knife and a cup. We work out how many children are absent and we stack their chairs away. We match the plate and cup according to colour. We match their photo to the chair that also has their photo attached.
9. When the children come down for snack we encourage the children to only put the food on their plate that they will likely eat. We encourage them to pour the amount of milk / water that they will drink. These little things help the children see at this young age that there are 'consequences' to their decisions. We would never force a child to eat or drink something they don't want but we do encourage the children to be aware and we notice that there is less waste as a result. We put left over fruit into the compost bin.
There is so much learning (language, mathematical) taking place in our Children's Kitchen! The expectations are high and the children have shown that they are so capable! The children are following one part, two part and sometimes three part instructions. There is a real purpose to all these activities! It really is holistic learning in all its glory!
