Cooking with Children in Montessori Class

You always see a lot of joy on children’s faces on the day we have a cooking class. You also hear lot of questions – What are we cooking? Is it time yet? They show lots of curiosity on what happens next.

After all the preparation of watching lessons and working with the practical life materials, it is time now for putting them to use. The kids show excitement in their faces while watching boiling water, melting cheese, frying, baking, toasting, and breaking eggs or turning simple banana to a yummy treat. Even though they are picky eaters, they enjoy eating what they cook because they made those all by themselves. They show a lot of pride in their accomplishment.

Cooking in Montessori class involves all areas of the classroom – practical life, math, language, science, geography, history and culture, and sensorial.

Practical Life activities include Washing hands, Mixing, Rolling, Cutting, Cleaning, Peeling, Pouring, Hand and Eye Coordination, and the use of different kitchen tools such as knives, spoons, forks, egg-beaters, tongs, etc. Also, it teaches how to follow steps in a recipe, and improves fine motor skills.

Math includes activities such as Measurement, Fraction, Numbers, Time, etc.

Language activities include exposure to new words such as names of ingredients, recipes, places, etc.

Science includes activities such as differentiating between hot and cold or solid, liquid, and gas, or boiling and melting, etc.

Geography activities include learning about the different continents and countries the recipes and ingredients used are from.

History and Culture activities involves understanding about the holidays and festivals from different regions of the world.

Sensorial activities involve all the five senses – touch, smell, see, hear, and taste.

Shree AtluriPrimary Lead Teacher