INTRODUCING FOOD1

AREAS THAT CAN BE EXPLORED IN

PLA

 

 

Integrating food preparation will help you explore not only PLA but other areas of the Montessori curriculum as well.

 Basic motor skills, the practical application of the hand and tools 
  • Food preparation 
  • Cooking 
  • Grace & Courtesy lessons
Sensorial exploration & knowledge, experience with naming 
  • (look at the colour, size, and shape, touch the surface, the texture, feel the weight, the temperature, the form), listen, smell, taste and delight. 
  • Have a basket of foods in your classroom and change out regularly 
  • Provide tasting experiences on a regular basis 
  • Show & Tell Theme: e.g. food & geometric solid combination
Always use correct vocabulary—simple, brief and precise. 
  • Offer the names of the food, utensil, the action involved in the process and the end-product.
  • Object or Picture Naming 
  • Object Matching & Picture Matching 
  • What am I? Riddles 
  • Three Part Match : object, picture and parts (i.e. Parts of an apple or orange) 
  • Books 
  • Reading & Writing Recipes
  • Penmanship
An awareness of, and experiences with amounts. 
  • Money; how much does it cost? 
  • Weight; how much does it weigh? 
  •  Volume; how to measure dry and wet ingredients 
  • Temperature; setting the oven, thermometer 
  • Time; using a timer

Experiment with different foods in season 

  • The children can use an orange squeezer to squeeze an orange or lemon. 
  •  They can learn how to peel a tangerine or peel a muffin/queen cake from its paper before eating it. 
  • They can mash potatoes after boiling, or avocado to spread on bread 
  • They can make vegetable salad using a manual food processor 
  • They can prepare fruit salad with each child bringing a different fruit
  • They can make fruit kebabs 
  • Teach them how to crack an egg. 
  • They can learn how to make toast and butter it or spread jam on it 
  •  Explore different shapes of graters. 
  • Grate nutmegs or cabbage 
  • They can learn to pour into tiny cups[1]communion cups where you have holes for like 40 tiny cups on a tray 
  • They can use hand mixers to mix ingredients 
  • They can learn to turn salad with utensils and not a pair of tongs.