Learning at the Holidays

Preparation + Your Child = Meaningful Learning Opportunities

Get out your recipe or cookbook for your favorite baked good. Following the recipe gives your child a real life reason for reading as well as a new why. When we read a recipe, we read for instructions. If you're at my house, the conclusion of this story is something tasty! Have your child follow along with their finger as you read the ingredients and instructions. This helps to practice the early reading skill we early childhood teachers refer to as the return and sweep, a print concept that builds a foundation for later reading. Following along lets children know that we read left to right and top to bottom.

Reading a recipe also introduces lots of vocabulary. Ingredients to look at, touch, and taste are connected to new words. Actions such as whip, fold, and pour allow your child to hear and act out new words as you work together to combine the ingredients. 

In addition to reading words, a recipe allows for reading numbers too. A cookbook gives lots of meaningful opportunities to talk about and show fractions. Most children know what a half is when asked, but following a recipe lets you talk about 1/4, 1/3 and the teeny tiny 1/8 measurement. Let your child scoop, measure, look and feel the differences a fraction can make. Talk about bigger and smaller; comparing the sizes as you mix them in. Challenge children to  estimate and you will have them contrasting as well as comparing!

Finally, we get to the good part; baking. Call attention to the mix before you put it in the oven. You can even take a picture of it with your cell phone. Spend some time together watching the oven as the chemical reaction takes place. Teach about safety while taking the baked goody out of the hot oven.

Once safely placed on the counter to cool, ask questions as you patiently wait for the first bite!

What do you notice about the cake?

What is different?

Why do you think it changed?

How did the change happen?


Be prepared to be amazed at the answers that these open-ended questions can elicit and be ready to laugh too. After all, holiday learning is about spending time and laughing  together.