I chose this activity because I love to cook. If I can
incorporate one of my favorite things to do with teaching children about
different cultures, it’s a win-win! The activity I chose is called “Family
Foods” and it involves a parent coming in and teaching the children a little
bit about where they are from, and having the children make a recipe from their
home.
Family Foods:
Themes- families,
my people
Objectives-
recognize and celebrate one’s own diet and style of eating
-Identify with one’s own culture
-Share
one’s own culture with others
Materials-
Ingredients and cooking utensils will depend on the recipe.
Description- Ask
parents to share one of their family’s favorite recipes from their home
culture. Invite the parent into the class to prepare the recipe with the
children. You could even schedule a “Favorite Family Food” cooking experience
each week.
Get the
recipe from the parents ahead of time. Purchase the ingredients. Buy enough so
that children can explore the raw ingredients. Introduce the parent and cooking
activity at group time. Ask the parent to show the children some of the
ingredients that are special or might be unfamiliar to the class. They may also
want to talk about the cultural significance of the recipe such as when the
dish is eaten or how the dish came to be part of the family.
Set up
the cooking activity at the table during free choice play. This way, children
can come and go according to their interests. Remind the children to wash their
hands prior to joining the activity. Serve the dish with lunch or afternoon
snack. Later that day, dictate a letter from the children. Thank the parent for
sharing his or her culture with the class. Include comments from the children
about how much they liked the dish and enjoyed the activity.
Variation- Take pictures of the parent and children cooking.
Display the photographs on a bulletin board near the sign-in sheet or make a
book about the different foods.
Childrens Books:
Celebration Food by Clare Hibbert (2014)
Celebration Food encourages children to think about when
they eat special food and what kinds of food they might eat at different
celebrations. They will encounter a range of celebrations from around the
world, both religious and secular. Finally they can follow the simple recipe to
make their own charoset. This book covers a range of celebrations from around
the world, both religious and secular, and the foods eaten on those occasions.
I would choose this book and read it to the class before we had our first guest
come in. It would be a good opener to the kinds of foods you might find in
different parts of the world. Many foods parents would most likely bring in
would be foods that they make on special occasions or “celebration foods” so I
feel like this book would be a great way to get the children thinking about
what types of things they might be making!
MAMA PROVI AND THE
POT OF RICE by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova
Puerto Rican Mama Provi is famous for her stories and big
feasts. And when her granddaughter Lucy is sick, she takes a pot of her
signature arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) and starts her climb upward—from
the ground floor where she lives to Lucy’s apartment on the eighth floor of a
tall building. Stopping to catch her
breath on each floor, she succumbs to the aroma from the apartments. She trades
her own dish for a portion of her neighbors’ cuisine and ends up with a large
flavorful spread for Lucy. Freshly baked bread from 2B, Senor Rivera’s frijoles
Negros, Mrs. Bazzini’s salad, collard greens, Mrs. Woo’s tea and a slice of
apple pie from apartment 7C! At the end, we are left satiated, from celebrating
diversity through kind neighbors and great food. This book would be awesome to
use to show the children that trying new things from different cultures can
turn out to be so exciting! I would read this to the children after they were
done with their recipe for the week, and were munching on their goodies. This
book also shows some amazing character traits such as being giving to one
another. Such a good find!
Questions to Answer:
1. Why did you choose this particular activity?
·
I chose this activity because I personally LOVE
to cook. I think this is a fabulous way to learn about other children and their
families and where they come from! I mean, what better way to teach children
about others and their culture than by doing something I love? After looking
through all of the activities planned out in the text, the cooking one caught
my eye.
2. What is the appropriate age for this activity?
·
I believe the most appropriate age for this
activity is the 5-6 age range. In Roots and Wings, it states that at this age,
these children, “understand cultural identity and enjoy exploring.” (York, pg.
21) Of course, any children older than this would be able to participate as
well, but 5-6 is when it will be most productive. Children at this age can
identify stereotypes, explore real and pretend/fair and unfair, and they are
still asking questions and trying to make sense of the world. Children in this
age range are, “more group oriented and can begin to understand cultural
identity.” (York, pg. 18) 5 and 6 year olds tend to choose friends of the same
sex and the same race, which is a good time to do an activity like this to help
raise awareness and become a whole as a class. Age 7-9 is also ideal for an
activity like this.at this age; these children are very interested in and aware
of the world. They want to know what’s going on now, as well as a long time
ago. It is CRITICAL that we provide children at this age with accurate
information so their understanding becomes different than that of a
preschooler- inaccurate and distorted.
3. Explain why this is an appropriate theme.
·
Social-Emotional
Development – Hands-on cooking activities help children develop pride and
confidence in their skills and abilities. The act of following a recipe can
encourage self-direction and independence, while also teaching children to
follow directions and use thinking skills to problem solve.
·
Physical
Development – Chopping, squeezing, spreading, and mixing are all cooking
skills that help develop a child’s small muscle control and eye-hand
coordination. It’s impossible to separate hands-on cooking activities from
physical development for young children.
·
Cognitive
Development – Cooking inspires children’s curiosity, thinking, and problem
solving, offering new opportunities to make predictions and observations.
Additionally, cooking offers authentic opportunities for students to understand
and apply their knowledge of measuring, one-to-one correspondence, numbers, and
counting. As they follow a recipe, children organize ingredients, follow a
sequence, and carry out multiple directions.
·
Language
Development – With its own vocabulary, cooking is a great opportunity for
language development. Take advantage of opportunities for children to match
pictures to words and articulate questions inspired by their new experiences.
·
Different cultures can be incorporated into each
of these reasons why cooking is appropriate for young children, especially 3-8.
From learning new words associated with a certain cultures food, to getting the
children thinking about other aspects of the child’s culture, multicultural
education can easily be incorporated into the activity I have chosen.
4. Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum:
·
Introduce
children to other cultures- this activity introduces children to the
different foods eaten in different cultures. Each week can be a different kind
of food, so the children have a well-rounded idea of the types of foods eaten
around the world. They learn to accept differences among classmates and begin
exploring similarities and differences in positive ways.
·
Teach
children how to cooperate with others- this is shown through working with
other children to achieve the same goal, re-create this food dish! Children
learn how to cooperate with others best through working through something with
other children. They learn how to show empathy for one another and recognize
that people can work together to help each other, all while exploring the
cultures of the different children in class.
·
Help
children to be group members- What better way to learn how to be part of a
group than working in small groups?! These children learn how to speak with one
another, come up with solutions to potential issues that may arise, and even
work together toward a common goal. These children are learning
conflict-resolution skills, participating in group problem solving, and even
contributing positively inside and outside the classroom.
Conclusion:
In
essence, I feel as though this activity would be appropriate and beneficial to
children 3-8 years of age. Cooking is a good way to incorporate new cultures and
foods into the classroom, as well as teach educational lessons about places all
over the world. This activity fits the anti-bias education guidelines and is a
good way to teach children life lessons with a fun twist!
Reference list:
Roots and Wings. Stacey York. 2006
Anti-Bias Education. Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen
Edwards. 2010
"ANTI-BIAS ACTIVITY GOALS” HANDOUT
