The following article comes from the opposition of Wo, and the author Runnan

"Food education" not only teaches children how to eat well, but also emphasizes learning knowledge and wisdom about food in life and survival. The following article tells the practical application of food education in Japanese preschool education from the following three aspects.

what are the feeding activities in Japanese kindergartens?

what abilities can children gain in the process of contact with ingredients?

How can the Japanese attitude towards food enlighten us?

first, Japanese-style lunch

Japanese kindergartens will require children to bring lunch to school. This gives parents a difficult problem-preparing lunch.

every kindergarten has its own standards.

The Valley of the Wind Kindergarten requires the children to eat all the food, without leftovers or waste, so it is impossible to make soup with water. It is not appropriate to prepare more or less meals, so it is necessary to adjust them in time, which requires parents to accurately know their children's food intake and preferences. The color, fragrance, taste and shape of lunch boxes should be considered. After all, no mother wants her children to be unhappy when they open the lunch boxes. Compared with whether the shape of rice balls looks cute or not, Fengzhigu Kindergarten advocates balanced nutrition and respect for the original taste of ingredients, which greatly shortens the time for mothers to get up early to prepare lunch boxes.

Daily lunches for children in Fengzhigu Kindergarten

The book "Little Doudou by the Window" once described the lunch standard of Ba Xueyuan as "a lunch with the taste of the sea and the taste of the mountain". The taste of mountains refers to the meat that grows on land, such as vegetables, cows, pigs, chickens and ducks; The taste of the sea is fish, other seafood and so on. In order to ensure the balanced and comprehensive nutrition of lunch, the headmaster chose such a poetic statement, and besides, he could use the convenience of "lunch" to let the children learn what is in the sea and what is in the mountains.

Illustration of Little Doudou by the Window

2. Cooking and cooking

The most popular playground for Japanese children is the "kitchen"; The best-selling book in the bookstore is "Children's Cooking Recipes"; The program that the TV station is calling for is "Children's Cooking".

during the epidemic, many families began to return to life. Cooking and cooking with children have become important daily activities. Young children often like to make snacks and pasta, from mixing flour and kneading dough to playing with cookies and cakes of different shapes; Older children can try cooking and use simple cooking utensils. From picking and washing vegetables to cutting and cooking, cooking skills are becoming more and more demanding.

It is a natural process for children to eat and nurture from feeling "delicious" to wanting to "make it by hand".

Cooking is first of all a cognitive process of deconstructing food. Know what ingredients are in delicious food, satisfy curiosity and learn to know different ingredients at the same time.

Secondly, master an important survival skill. In the process of making delicious food, children learn to use cooking utensils such as knives and fire, and at the same time pay attention to raising safety awareness and learning to protect themselves.

Finally, experience the pleasure of creating self-value through labor. Do it yourself and have plenty of food and clothing. If you don't know that rice, oil and salt are expensive, children will unconsciously cherish food and feel grateful to their parents and elders who take care of themselves.

The Valley of the Wind Kindergarten designed the children's birthday party as a cooking class. At the monthly birthday party, children, teachers and parents make different foods together: pizza, cake, toast ..... I remember when I was young, every birthday, my mother always cooked handmade noodles herself. Important days and special food, mother's figure, the mixed taste and interwoven pictures will always remain in children's memories.

Children in the Wind Valley Kindergarten are baking bread with bamboo poles

Third, farming and picking

The Wind Valley Kindergarten has its own farm. Farming is a very important life education: sowing, watering, fertilizing, observing and harvesting. The harvested ingredients are taken back to their own kitchens, or left at school, or shared with people in the surrounding communities for everyone to enjoy.

Seasonal dishes planted in the surrounding community gardens will also be sold in schools, which are inexpensive and fresh. When parents pick up their baby, it is also a good time to relax around the ingredients and talk about food and parenting.

I inquired about the farming activities of Fengzhigu Kindergarten in detail, and found that it was so rich:

In April, I went up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots;

In May, pick plums and make green plum drinks

In June, walk three kilometers to dig potatoes

In July, make bamboo cups and eat running water to fish noodles

In September, pick chestnuts, and the director personally cooks chestnut rice

In October, dig sweet potatoes and make sweet potato desserts

In October, pick persimmons and hang them in school.

cultivation is a pleasure, and it is even more enjoyable to eat the fruits cultivated by yourself.

observing the prototype of ingredients, where they grow, how to produce fruits and which parts can be eaten is also a learning process of natural science.

Get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in the process of flowering, fruiting and harvesting. Through this farming experience, children's sense of responsibility, attention and empathy for others can also be cultivated. The process of waiting patiently and cultivating carefully is like looking forward to your own bright future.

From sowing to harvesting, we can improve our comprehensive ability to understand and solve problems, and we will not be angry or depressed because of temporary failures or setbacks. On the basis of these experiences, we can also form a good sense of partnership.

Farming course of Wind Valley Kindergarten

IV. * * * Eating

"Rice is not eaten by one person, but by everyone." This is the Japanese concept of "* * * food".

At home, the whole family cooks and eats together, which is a happy life concerto. At school, having lunch together is a time for sharing and communication. Children learn different tastes of mountains and seas from different lunch boxes, which is also a pleasant food experience.

*** food is also related to "food distribution". Children have known the concept of food distribution since childhood, not the monopoly of the strong, but everyone eats together; Learn some dietary "codes of conduct", such as table manners. Everyone eats happily together. In this process, it is very important to respect others and yourself.

The author's reflection

Japan is a country beset with natural disasters and crises. Earthquakes and tsunamis are common, and the products are limited, which leads to the Japanese people's constant reverence for food. Whether it is cooking, farming, preparing lunch or eating together, it will be emphasized that food is hard-won and should be cherished and not wasted in all food and education practices. Japan advocates the concept of "one thing as a whole", which means that food "has nothing to throw away", and vegetables should be eaten from root to leaf, while in eat small fish, they should be eaten from beginning to end. This is worth learning from.

Food is the most important thing for people. We should respect food, treat it well and make the best use of it.