Finding Teachable Moments in an Ordinary Day

Cooking dinner at home can be a very good skill-teaching activity. You know how kids love to get in the middle of what’s going on, especially if they’re going to get to reap the delicious benefits of it. YUM! From Math to Reading and Writing, Sequencing, and Motor Coordination…get that recipe card, phone or ipad out and pull up a chair (at a safe distance) for your child or grandchild to take it all in. Here are some questions you can ask your child:

1. MATH
How many different ingredients do we need? How many 1/4 cups are in 1 cup? How long will this delicious meal take to bake in the oven?

2. READING & WRITING
What words do you know in the recipe? Can you find all the T’s written in the recipe? Can you read the recipe to me? Can you copy the recipe onto another piece of paper?

3. SEQUENCING
What do we do first? What do we do next? How many steps does this recipe have? What’s the last thing we will do?

4. MOTOR COORDINATION
SCOOP the ingredients, POUR into the bowl, STIR everything together with one hand and hold the bowl with the other.

During this time together, you can teach and help your child work on important developmental and academic goals.