- apron
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1a: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (e.g. taking turns in talking, listening to peers, waiting to speak until another person is finished talking, asking questions and waiting for an answer, gaining the floor in appropriate ways).
Head Start Outcomes:
Social Emotional Development/Self-Regulation: Follows simple rules, routines, and directions.
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 1: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (taking turns in talking; listening to peers; waiting until someone is finished; asking questions and waiting for an answer; gaining the floor in appropriate ways).
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 12: Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature.
Play Together: “The Cook in the Kitchen”
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Following Directions, Gross Motor Skills, Phonological Awareness (Rhythm and Repetition), Sequencing, Vocabulary
Tell children you are going to teach them how to play a game called “The Cook in the Kitchen.” Demonstrate as you show children how to play.
- Have children form a circle and join hands.
- Select the “cook” and have him or her stand in the center of the circle. You may wish to give the cook an apron to wear.
- Sing the first verse as children walk in a circle. Encourage them to sing along.
- Then sing the second verse and have the cook choose a child (the “eggs”) to bring into the circle.
- When you sing the third verse, the “eggs” chooses another child to bring into the circle as the “rice.”
- Continue until all ingredients are in the circle with the cook.
- Ask children who are a part of the circle to drop hands for the final verse, and twist their hands in a mixing motion.
The Cook in the Kitchen
(sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)
Verse 1
The cook in the kitchen
The cook in the kitchen
Bee-bim bop! Bee-bim bop!
The cook in the kitchen.
Verse 2
The cook takes the eggs
The cook takes the eggs
Bee-bim bop! Bee-bim bop!
The cook takes the eggs.
Verse 3
The eggs take the rice
The eggs take the rice
Bee-bim bop! Bee-bim bop!
The eggs take the rice.
Add verses by substituting ingredients: the rice takes the garlic; the garlic takes the onions; the onions take the meat; the meat takes the spinach; the spinach takes the carrots; the carrots take the sprouts.
Final Verse
Mix it! Mix like crazy! (children who form the circle move their arms in a mixing motion)
Mix it! Mix like crazy!
Bee-bim bop! Bee-bim bop!
Mix it! Mix like crazy!