Teaching Families To Cook at Home With their Child

As teachers, we want to share ideas with families on how to engage with their children at home in a meaningful way. During the 2020 pandemic we were all made to stay home (eat, shop, clean, do chores etc). Everything was done with a small group that usually included your family.  Hopefully families worked together on cleaning the house, gardening, planting flowers etc. Life skills are something that no one can take from you.  They are also something you are going to use your entire life. Cooking is a life skill that I believe is becoming something of the past. We see all of the delivery services and ways to make life easier, but there is no better life skill than learning how to cook and take care of yourself.

I love food, I like to try new things, I like to eat at new restaurants and I love to try new recipes. Many of our students are used to going through fast food and from one activity to another.  If we give families easy and cost-effective ideas and ways to cook at home, we are not only making their lives easier but we are teaching our students life skills.

When I was teaching I used Family Forums to teach families about different things happening in our classroom. I also provided easy recipes and had the ingredients there for them to take home. We would make the food in the classroom and then they could go home and try it with their families. I asked them to take pictures cooking together and we would hang them in our room.

I tried to cook in my classroom on Fridays. It was most likely something that the children looked forward to each week. I remember when I was in second grade my teacher cooked with us, we tried new foods and I promised I would do the same when got my own classroom. It was fun, the students loved it, and I could also teach them so many skills at the same time. I also used children’s lit to teach skills that also helped me come up with creative cooking strategies.

On my website I share cooking ideas for each letter of the alphabet.  I think that it is so important to share these ideas so that students and families have the opportunity to engage at home on something they can use the rest of their lives.

• As children learn they can make up their own recipes
• They learn to follow directions
• They can help make a grocery list
• They learn responsibility
• They learn healthy food choices

Hopefully, we see a new normal coming soon. Children can go back to the classroom; our classroom community will be buzzing with the sound of laugher and learning. There are always times when we can help our families with ideas to use at home. Everyone eats, so sharing recipes that they can make with their families to build memories and teach those life lessons is a gift we can give.