Cooking provides many opportunities for children to learn to think like scientists. They learn about measurement when they measure ingredients, and they learn about sequence (before, after, next) as they combine ingredients. They learn about directions as they follow recipes. Children learn about changes of state as they watch pancake batter change into bread, and cream change into ice cream. Working with diverse ingredients helps children develop real world knowledge about foods, and begin to develop categories such as fruit and vegetable.

Cooking is a hands-on science activity. Children need careful supervision around stoves, using cooking tools, and handling hot and cold foods, but they should be allowed to do as much of the measuring, mixing, slicing, chopping and pouring as is safely possible. And of course children should join us in washing our hands before cooking.

Here is a selection of simple recipes that can be used at home or school:

• Making Popsicles
• Half Moon Cookies
• Edible Wheels
• Little Red Hen Bread

These examples, each with a connection to one of the modules in the ScienceStart! curriculum, illustrate the many ways in which we use cooking as one more means to learn to think like a scientist.