This document discusses setting up cooking activities for young children in nursery schools. It describes a pictorial recipe created by a student for strawberry and banana sticks. The recipe is presented as a photo book with one picture per step to help children structure the process. The activities aim to encourage independence by allowing children to prepare their own snacks. Proper motor skills are required to successfully make the recipe.

1. classroom activity ideas
beginning to the end without waiting
to have their turn.
For the past five years we have
encouraged students at MCI to prepare
a recipe in pictures presented in such a
way that a four year old could follow
and “cook from it” . The following is
an example of Karin Bernard, part time
student who joined the early childhood
course in February and this recipe is
part of her practical life file.
Cooking ‘all by myself’!
Other ideas for photo
book recipes:
Fresh lemonade
Pizza
Vegetable dips
Muesli
Honey –Banana-Yoghurt
Fresh fruit cups
A pictorial recipe idea by Karin Bernard, a part-time student
at MCI introduced by Barbara Isaacs
W
hen I visited
Montessori
schools in Sweden
I noticed children
had many
opportunities for individual food
preparation activities. Classrooms had
child sized areas equipped for food
preparation and children often
contributed to preparations for snack or
lunch. Although it is difficult to
reproduce this kind of facility in the
UK, where most nurseries operate from
church halls, I wondered whether it
would be possible to set up “cooking
activities” ready for individual use?
The advantages would be the same as
with any other activity available to the
child in the favourable environment.
Children could select it
spontaneously and get involved
in the whole process from the
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2. Strawberry and Banana Sticks
The Strawberry and Banana Sticks are
a colourful, tasty and healthy cooking
activity that can be done individually
by very young children in the nursery.
Always aiming for independence the
children will be grateful to prepare
their own snacks.
This simple recipe requires the child
to have developed some coordination
and fine motor skills from first
experiences with practical life activities.
It is necessary that the child has already
practiced pouring water from a jug into
a bowl and knows how to thread beads
following a pattern.
JULY – SEPTEMBER 2008 Montessori International 21
The recipe is presented in the form of
a photo book and each photo represents
one particular movement. The child can
only see one picture at a time. Turning
the page to see the next step helps the
child to structure the cooking process
by doing one step after the other.
The activity might be prepared by the
teacher and presented on a table as
illustrated in picture 1. Another option
is for the teacher to make sure that all
ingredients are available in the
cooking/snack area. The first step of the
activity is then for the child to prepare
his/her own personal cooking area by
assembling all necessary utensils and
fruits.
The sticks can be made with any fruit.
However, for young children
strawberries and bananas have several
advantages; they can be prepared
without the use of a knife, they are soft
and therefore can be put on the stick
quite easily, and last but not least
children usually love these fruits, and
they look very decorative on the stick! ࡯
The recipe above is
presented in the
form of a photo
book.
If you have pictorial recipes which
you have tried with children why not
share them with the readers of
Montessori International? Email the
editor, amanda@montessori.org.uk
A selection will be published in
forthcoming issues.
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5 6 7 8