At my centre we do excursions every week to our local beach in summer or the local bush in winter and we like to give our tamariki a range of experiences. One such experience is cooking in the outdoors. This was new to me, as I had only really ever done this as a child at my Primary School camp and I felt rather unsure as to how the tamariki would be around an open fire. It turns out that they are far more capable and competent than even I realized (Ministry of Education, 1996). My Associate Teacher explained the rules of safety while modeling how to behave around the fire (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009) and taught the children to respect the flames because they are unpredictable and should not be viewed as a toy. This was ensuring the safety and well being of each child (Ministry of Education, 1996), while giving them the opportunity to show their own initiative.
 |
| Child bringing wood for the fire. |
When we gathered the firewood we discussed what types of wood we would need, where the best place to build the fire was, what we should do to prevent tamariki getting too close and how to put it out responsibly once we had finished with it. These discussions were extremely interesting as the children came up with a fantastic array of ideas of how to do these things. We all decided on drawing a line in the sand and put some rocks around to stand behind. It was determined once we had finished cooking we should move away from the fire to prevent us from becoming distracted. Questioning is extremely important as it encourages conversation with tamariki and gives them the opportunities to problem solve for themselves (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).
We used sticks to cook our bread on and have previously cooked marshmallows, fruit kebabs and sausages also on sticks, pancakes with the old skillets and have even tried boiling Milo on an old pot belly we had made from a tin can. This gives the children survival skills and shows them a wide variety of different cooking utensils.
Back at the centre we have also encouraged participation in preparing muffins for morning kai and have had children make the batter. They learn how to measure, pour and get an understanding of what the raw materials become when mixed together. For me, I have never really enjoyed cooking and never found anything fun in it, except for banging pots together, yet my centre has a way of engaging children in these activities and making you want to experience these things.
I feel my centre embraces the outdoor environment to its fullest capacity. We utilize the raw or natural materials around us and try to enhance the children’s sense of wonder. I believe it is important to give tamariki opportunities to explore and take risks (Gill, 2007). I agree with Brownlee (2007) who states “a rich experience is one that uses all of your senses; it is the real thing” (p.9). Our outdoor cooking activity definitely uses all our senses with the smell of the food cooking, tasting the finished product, touching the food with our hands, hearing the sizzle and crackle of the food cooking and watching the metamorphosis take place.
I think to further enhance this experience I would like to take some inspiration from Anah who has done some cultural cooking at her centre and perhaps try and do a mini hangi and get the children’s input as to what they would like to cook. I also feel it would be a great opportunity to ask the tamariki to bring in recipes from their own culture that we could make with the rest of our whānau, thus engaging all of our centre’s customs.
References
Brownlee, P. (2007). Magic places. Waitakere, Auckland: New Zealand Playcentre Federation.
Gill, T. (2007). No fear growing up in a risk averse society. United Kingdom: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young ch(ildren: Choices in theory and practice. New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Prentice Media.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he Whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Rachel I am glad that you have taken on board ‘Ana’s ideas of cooking because making hangi is like a standard thing that we have made at our centre when it comes to fundraising and sometimes special lunch for our tamariki. Cooking is one of the common activities that we invited young children to contribute and I agree with all the skills that they developed when going through the process of cooking. Your experience is much excited than mine because you have used natural resource for your cooking including woods where we just used the oven. This shows that the children at your centre are so lucky because they access more to natural resources than the children at my centre. in general, great experience and well discussed. Tino pai.
ReplyDeleteI like this Rachael I always enjoy it when you reflect on your daily experience with the children in your centre. I wish that I could do this in my centre take children out to explore the natural environment bush walks, beach etc. Cooking in the outdoor is great, children learn so much from this experience and I’m glad you have shred this. Cooking on an open fire is a great experience and yes it’s good because all children contributed to bringing the firewood, keep the fire going and they also enjoyed cooking together. Children are learning survival skills, when there is no electricity for them to cook at home so it’s fantastic. It’s good that your centre embrace the outdoor to its fullest capacity. I do prefer taking children out to explore the outdoor, in the Cook Island the natural resource and environment is just a step away but schools choose not to interact with the natural environment they have adopted using the modern technology.
ReplyDeleteHow true that is Rachael i should know i have experienced your centre while on practicum and the outing that they have, it is truly amazing it certainly keeps the Adrenalin pumping and keeps you on you toes at all time, captivating,wonderment, exciting. and great for keeping the body energized but having fun at the same time. Totally,Totally,agree with your korero Rachael children learn all sorts of survival skills, taking risks, providing challenges and problem solving opportunities This motivates learning and fosters in children the dispositions of perseverance.The Sociocultural perspective to development challenges us to look deeply into the impact of the environment on the children's life and the importance of developing a strong knowledge of the child and their family values and beliefs All i can say is that i wish my centre was as fortunate as your awesome centre to go out every day because i believe our children will grow to be fearless,Assertive, and full of Confidence...........
ReplyDeleteTumeke to you and your centre
.
Hi Rachael
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic way of exploring with the children on an open fire down at the beach, your centre has so many wonderful ideas that embraces the children’s interest and helps to develop them even more.
I enjoy reading how the children have already experienced cooking different types of food and I also commend the teachers for looking at the safety issue and teaching the children ways of protecting themselves.
Children are very inquisitive and have great memory recall therefore, I feel that this interaction will be one they will be talking about as they get older. What a fantastic way of teaching the children life skills, to share with them knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation. Also, some of the methods of cooking on the firer are still prominent in other pacific island cultures including the Māori culture.
I have noticed how well the centre embraces the outdoors which is a great idea to place the children in an environment that they will be able to appreciate, and hopefully one protect in the future.
The Māori indigenous people talk about how the kaitiaki (caretaker) of papātuānuku (mother earth) takes care of our land. Teaching the children to care for our land is a positive move towards saving our world and so we don’t have nature deficit.
That outdoor activity was fantastic. Children at your centre are very fortunate because they experience outdoor excursion a lot where they can get to engage and connect with papatuanuku. Children also built up their knowledge about being outdoor and they learn a lot of different tactics and strategies of being outdoors. Yes children will also become to learn to respect papatuanuku, and also learn about natural resources and how our ancestors have survived in the old days without the technology and all.
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome to try my ideas out and also consider it, because we are all here to help each other to enhance children’s learning and knowledge about their culture and also other cultures as well.
Reading your activity just make me think about how excited children will be at my centre next week when we are going to do a hangi for Easter. Overall Rachel you did a marvelous job with the children.