Food preparation is part of the curriculum at Triangle Montessori Academy (TMA.) Here are a few of the things that the children learn.
- Slicing: Children learn to slice bananas (with blunt knife), cucumbers, strawberries, apple (with corer), celery, hard-boiled eggs, carrots (peeling & slicing)
- Spreading: Using a child-sized spreader, children spread warm butter, cream cheese, peanut butter onto toast, raw bread, crackers, and vegetables.
- Making food that doesn’t require heat: Butter in a bag, bread, peanut butter with a food grinder, cracking peanuts, hammering nuts, vegetable dip, cheese & meat snack, slicing hard-boiled eggs or making deviled eggs, making a smoothie, drying foods, making salads, using a melon baller to prepare a melon snack, grate cheese, squeeze lemon, crush herbs with mortar & pestle.
- Re-create recipes using measurements: Use step-by-step visual recipe cards to allow children to complete a recipe work cycle. This is great pre-math work!
- Creating new recipes: This last part of the sequence requires some preparation of mindset and environment. We allow the children to create their own recipes, observe, and experience the results. We also ask inquiry questions along the way and document the recipe to complete the work cycle. This work is a wonderful pre-science activity!
We encourage you to bring kids into the kitchen. It’s fun and simple to do. Being patient with the experience is key. Your mindset needs to embrace the fact that there might be a bigger mess and the prep may take a bit longer. That is the name of the game. Think about the long-term rather than the short term.
Triangle Montessori Academy is a Cary preschool emphasizing art, mathematics, practical life, yoga, meditation, and music. The private, year-round school was founded in 2008 and accepts children from 18 months old up to six years old. The school is a member of the American Montessori Society and all teachers are AMS-certified. Students at the school are exposed to Montessori-style teaching approaches, including individual learning according to each child’s style and pace, multi-age classrooms that allow children to advance when they are ready, and a nurturing of students’ natural curiosity.
For more information, call 919.463.7770, or visit our Website at www.trianglemontessori.org.
