KIMIS
At Rachel Keeling Nursery School, we pride ourselves on the strong and positive relationships we cultivate with our families. This starts very early in a child’s journey.
At the home visit (or meet-and-greet in the park during pandemic life), we find out where families are from, which languages they speak, what their family life is like and skills they may be able to share with us in school. One such skill is cooking.
We ask families to share their favourite healthy recipes, which come from all corners of the globe, on scraps of paper, screenshot from their cookery book or written down from memory.
As we are very aware of promoting healthy eating and lifestyles, we tend to cook with easily accessible, in-season ingredients. One recipe that we use regularly with the children is one for kimis.
Kimis are Somali flatbreads (also known as sabaayad) and are easy to make. Children are so adept now at washing their hands as part of routines, especially when they are cooking or eating. They are able to follow the visual recipe, measuring out cup by cup, and they enjoy talking about the ingredients, watching them as they change state. There are opportunities to tip, mix, kneed and roll the kimi ingredients as part of the process.
Children demonstrate high levels of engagement and independence when creating their own batch. Usually, we would partner children to work together, but in current Covid times, we minimise risk by each child making their own batch to cook. You can ensure children develop turn-taking by encouraging them to share utensils (washing them in between use, of course).
One by one, the children will come to cook their flatbreads. We make sure the hob guard is attached, but allow children to use small steps to access the hob with an adult and cook their food. Children respond so positively to being given responsibility and being trusted.
Kimis are often eaten warm and you can add delicious fillings or eat them served as they are. A similarly versatile bread is the Indian paratha, which is a regular favourite, as well as French crêpes, blinis, pikelets, anjero and potato pancakes to name a few.
With young children, quick and simple recipes are so much more engaging. As the year continues, we often will leave out visual recipes and encourage the children to make their mixture independently.
Normally, we would invite families in to cook alongside staff and teach us the skills, so we ensure that our snack area has a diverse range of tastes and flavours. What has been beautiful in the past is seeing the pride on children’s faces when their family members come into school to help with the cooking: the joy they share and the skills that many of our children are able to demonstrate. We look forward to a time when we can have our parents back on site to cook with us. So, do some research with your families about their favourite healthy recipes.
Once a year, we hold an International Evening where families bring food from around the world to share. We also share music and dancing and generally have a good time together. In 2020, we held our International Evening in the garden (it was just before the first lockdown). Staying out in the garden, let’s talk kites!
KITES
When I worked in a large primary school, the theory was that on windy days children’s behaviour was erratic. Our nursery children have access to the garden all day, whatever the weather. We work to develop independence and ensure the children have some autonomy and agency. There is always a kite-making trolley available and we have discovered that once a few children have worked alongside an adult making kites, they will then pass this skill onto each other.
Our trolley has a range of recyclable materials (tissue paper, plastic, lolly sticks) as well as string, scissors and masking tape. Children love to create kites of all shapes and sizes and test them out, running across the garden trailing their kites behind them. We encourage children to use twigs that have fallen off bushes to create a spine for their kite, but anything goes.
Remember it is not about the end product, it’s the process that matters: the independence developed, communication while negotiating or asking for help, measuring string and gathering sticks, cutting and tying knots, then the joy of running wild (usually with your kite dragging in a puddle behind you!).
Rachel Keeling Nursery School is an Outstanding setting in Bethnal Green, east London
