Sandhya Deshpande

Have you noticed how little children are instantly drawn to the kitchens in their homes? Drumming on empty utensils, pretending to cook, playing with potatoes and onions, these come naturally to them. Why not use this interest of theirs to teach children a lot of things, for you see the kitchen is a complete school in itself. If we look carefully, we can find math, science, social studies, art and craft and a lot more, right in our kitchens.

Let’s begin with language. Isn’t the kitchen a wonderful place to help a child identify and say out loud colours, ingredients, and the dishes prepared? What is this? Where is it kept? How is it used? What is it called? These are questions that can be asked and answered easily. Not only language, but we can help young children improve their tactile senses as well by getting them to touch and feel the different textures we find in the kitchen.

What about math? The size, shapes of containers, their capacities, big, small, tall, broad can be seen and felt. How to decide the ratio and proportion while preparing something as simple as tea or rice. Why is one particular ingredient more and another less when preparing foods? How to multiply, divide, add, subtract can easily be taught using onions, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. How one calculates the amount of water that is needed for cooking a dish or how much of oil should be used is knowledge and wisdom that can be imparted just by making children observe and seeking or pretending to take their help in the kitchen.

Now comes science, Why so many containers? This is classification. Why do we group them this way? Why we need to store items in particular kinds of containers brings physical and chemical properties into account. States of matter – solid, liquid, and gases can be easily shown. What substances are in solid, liquid, and gaseous states? Children can be given simple clues to know and identify that something that does not change its shape is called solid, something that takes the shape of the container it is put in is liquid, and something that is smoke, vapour, or fumes is gas. Why a cube of ice melts, why water evaporates can be a lot of fun for young learners. The important role of fire, what is it? Which form of energy is it? How can it be produced? How can it be extinguished? Utensils – conductors and insulators: why a part of it is a metal or alloy, whereas the handle is made of insulators? What are the criteria of selecting these materials when manufacturing vessels or containers? Stainless steel, brass, these are alloys and not a single metal is also evident.

Density – the observation that cut vegetables float in water and pulses and grains sink, will help children understand density. Pressure – the shape of a knife, its edge that is used for cutting or the pressure cooker is so simple to explain. The mixer, grinder, and centrifugal force of the blade. Electroplating of some vessels to make them attractive and cost effective can be shown. Rusting of iron utensils or corrosion of copper, aluminium, silver can actually be seen. Reactions – chemical changes, milk turning into curd, vegetables and food after cooking, tea leaves transferring their colour and diffusing with water, spoilt food, milk, etc., are good and easy examples of chemical changes. We can find acids, bases, indicators, and salts in our kitchen. All sour things have some type of acid in them. What is the role of baking soda, lemon juice, salt, spices in preparing different foods? That there is a variety in milk and milk products, their shape, colour, use, taste and that they all come from one source, is this not astonishing, surprising, and enjoyable for a child?

Coming to biology – fresh vegetables to be stored in the refrigerator, dry ingredients in containers, when we soak pulses in water they swell due to osmosis and dehydrate when they dry. Yeast can be used in preparing dough or for fermentation for bhatura, dosa, idli. Sprinkling salt on certain cut vegetables like tomato, ridge gourd, etc., will lead to exosmosis. We can use leafy vegetables to show the root system, shoot system, leaves, stem, etc. Together with our children we can even grow a kitchen garden.

Why we need to have a balanced diet, eat a variety of food, make food healthy, these are questions that can be discussed. What are taste buds? Where are they located? How do we taste different things in different regions of the tongue? The knowledge of microbes as our friends and foes can also be imparted. While showing fruits we can show how seeds are found inside them. Some are delicate and some are hard shelled, some we can eat, and some we cannot. We can show the different edible parts of plants like the sugarcane is a stem, radish is root and so on.

Social studies can also be incorporated. Which place, state, country is the producer of a particular crop? What kind of soil does this crop grow in? Geography can be brought in this way. Some dishes were introduced to our country by different kings and kingdoms. Can we trace their history? We can talk about the journey of food from the field to the plate. This is also a good opportunity to talk about farmers, their condition, why governments frame policies to aid them. The list of topics that can be discussed is endless.

Now, let us see how the kitchen is useful to teach art and craft. There is a wide variety of colours, shapes, structures, textures, etc., in the kitchen. Cutting vegetables, garnishing, plating, serving, all these steps involve a lot of art. Rolling out dough into different shapes, decorating using colourful vegetables and spices can be a fun activity.

If we mix spoiled and fresh fruits and vegetables, we will find that the good fruits and vegetables also start rotting. This can be a lesson in value education about keeping good company. If even a small amount of water gets into any preserved food, the food will spoil. This can help children understand that the water that gives life can also be the cause of a dish going bad.

So you see the kitchen is not just a simple place to prepare food, it is a complete school within itself. When we take children into the kitchen, we teach them to care, share, and bond over food. It is a lab of experiential learning that can be explored anytime. The best part is, since activities in the kitchen are repeated every day, what they learn in the kitchen will leave an indelible mark on the minds of children.

The author is a beloved senior teacher of science at Bhavan’s B.P Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines Nagpur. With kindness and dedication, she sparks curiosity in her students. She also expresses her passion through writing and experiential learning. She is known for making learning fun and inspiring a love for science in all. She can be reached at deshpandesandhya2401@gmail.com.