Session 4

Task

Research into: Encouraging children to cook... What does encouraging children to cook involve?

• Making recipes fun
• Raising awareness of healthy eating
• Continuous series childrens programmes that they become involved with ( big cook little cook, cbeebies I can cook etc)
• Raising awareness of where food comes from including harvest countries seasonal veg etc
• How to deal with kitchen equipment / use correctly
• Developing relationships between a role model and the child/ authoritarian figures
• Making things simple and easy to understand – this allows the child to be more in control

Examples of books that engage with the topic:

Hey kids! Youre cookin now! Is a great example if a book that encourages children to cook using healthy ingredients. This raises awareness of where food comes from and tackles childrens curiosity through making recipes into an adventure. There is a sense of the child being in control through tasks and answering questions about food origins within the book.

Simple illustrative border on the interior, plenty of text but simple.

Age group of around 8

Quote -

“Winner of 8 national awards, Hey Kids! You're Cookin' Now! is the most honored children's cookbook. This fabulous book challenges inquisitive young cooks to seek culinary kitchen adventures. Learn Kitchen Safety and Cooking Preparation. Cook favorite "from scratch" recipes with adult help. Prepare after-school snacks, and meals for the family! Be a smart consumer by learning fun ecology facts. Make face paint, play clay, recycled paper and crafts. Have a great time cooking with animated characters.

"Cbeebies" I can cook series

In the series "From the garden”.

• Encourages children to grow and find their own veg in the garden. Raises awareness of healthy and eco-friendly cookery and eating.
• Uses a consistent character that builds familiarity and trust.
• Photographs combined with simple instructions: suggests an age range of 7+
• Basic bold colours, correlates with the general cbeebies/cbbc theme for familiarity and recognition.

Why do we think that these books try to encourage children to cook? And what benefits might there be for the children involved?

• Raises awareness in essential kitchen practices for a healthy later life,
• Healthy cooking and the right choice of ingredients can promote eco friendly development,
• Keeps children active in a healthy way and occupied/mentally stimulated,
• Encourages creativity,
• Communication skills are developed,
• Bonding with the parents or adults involved
• Essential life skills are learned and or developed
• Healthier diet choices

Activities:

• Cooking generally
• Childrens cookery parties
• Interactive shows such as Big cook little cook, where children can "cook along" or other Programmes where children are featured in the show such as Cbeebies "I can cook"
• Parent led activities such as creating fun food with healthy ingredients
• Cookery books in general encourage cooking as an activity

Three examples of organisations:

• Change 4 life is a massive and well recognised campaign. 
• Animated and ranging from fitness to diet etc. 
• Includes the parents or adults in order to educate the while family.

Quote -  

"If you have seen Jamie’s Food Revolution program, you may have seen the episode where he’s testing kids in a kindergarten to see if they know where food comes from. The children couldn’t identify a tomato. This highlighted a real issue of fresh food, the lack of knowledge, and how easy it could be to develop cooking skills for kids of all ages and skills. The kick-off OpenIDEO challenge is to explore, how we might raise kid’s awareness of the benefits of fresh food so they can make better choices. Better choices about the food they eat, the skills to cook it, and the knowledge to make these choices."

• Jamie has successfully converted schools ways of cooking and tackling food knowledge

Other Session Notes

During the session the tasks above were given and the groups were asked to present their findings to the rest of the class. This enabled us to gather additional information and gain a deeper understanding into the theme of encouraging children to cook. Many sites, books, activities etc were discussed in detail and this broadened our references and knowledge further.

We then watched several videos regarding food topics such as healthy food promotion, anti-corporation campaigns, seasonal food awareness and food economy information. i particularly liked the "anti-tesco speech"

General research

Big cook little cook:

• The series encourages children to cook in a highly colourful and fun manner, There are songs featured throughout which encourage young children to become excited and see food as a healthy pastime.

A Father who made food fun:

Link to "father who made food fun!"

Website: Raising children network

Benefits of cooking with kids:

There are all sorts of things that your child can learn while helping you to cook, including:

• new words (whisk, peel, egg beater and grater)
• mathematical concepts (half, one teaspoon, 30 minutes.
• an appreciation for doing things step by step
• maybe even some patience, while waiting for that cake to rise!

Cooking with kids gives you the chance to introduce them to a range of fresh, healthy foods. It’s also how you can turn a chore into a way to spend time with your children.

Cooking with toddlers:

Almost everything that involves a toddler involves time and patience. This means it’s a good idea to save cooking together for those days when you have plenty to spare.

At this age, your child will mostly be watching and learning, but toddlers can help with things like greasing the muffin tin and handing over utensils. Simple recipes such as pita bread pizza, fruit salad and green salad won’t drag things out too long. They can also provide lots of interest during both preparation and eating.

Many tasks are still difficult for toddlers to manage alone. So it can be a good idea to focus on thanking your toddler for helping, rather than trying to teach your child to do something perfectly.

Cooking with preschoolers:

With preschoolers, you can talk about which foods are healthy and why. This is also a good age to introduce recipes that involve ‘building’. This could include layering toppings on a pizza base or spooning yoghurt, cereal and fruit into a glass to make a tasty and healthy dessert.

You can try making some of the following:

• Muffins: add raisins, chopped apples, mashed banana, cooked pumpkin or grated carrot.
• Fruit and yoghurt smoothies: shake them in a jar if you don’t have a blender or want to keep this fascinating toy hidden from your child for a bit longer.
• Mashed potatoes: let your child have a go with the masher, and jazz up the spuds with yoghurt and herbs or another vegetable such as celeriac.
• Biscuits: your child can cut out shapes or put spoonfuls of mixture onto the baking tray.

Preschool children can help set the table, serve food and clean up. Cooking also helps preschoolers learn basics about measuring, counting and washing vegetables and fruit, as well as new words.

Cooking with school-age children:

Once at school, your child will probably love helping in the kitchen and making menu suggestions.

You can now try more complex creations, such as:

• pancakes
• soup
• fried rice
• biscuits – let your child roll out the dough, cut out shapes and decorate
• gnocchi and pasta – with or without a pasta machine 
• cakes.

Your child can also help do the dishes and clean the table now.

This is also a good age to involve your child in choosing fruit and vegetables. You can teach your child about what’s in season and which vegetables look fresh. Let your child pick out the fruit and vegetables for the next few meals.

Examples of children's cook books:

Session 3: Set Task

Set Task

Design a double page spread for CBeebies "I can cook". Use one of Katie's recipes.


Initial Ideas:

Some initial drawings considering various recipes from the Cbeebies site. Hoping to find some that incorporate foods grown in the garden etc. Or ones that I can illustrate to an extent where they come from. I have begun to consider typography, and have chosen to hand render my spread. This is to create a more homely and soft appearance that will invite young interest rather than look to slick or potentially intimidating. I believe Somehow that hand drawn work speaks more to children through their ability to relate to the creative style. Currently I am working in a fluid style with relatively curving letters with high ascenders. This is to create a homely "chef like" feel. I have worked in catering before and there is a connection between food and this sort of typography, possibly through its italian style cookery and calligraphic associations. My initial drawings of Rabbits were an attempt at developing a character for the recipe, someone that children could see making the food and follow their instructions. However the above images are too basic and would be better aimed at children under 6. More informative illustration may be better such as images of Vegetables or other ingredients used in the recipe. 

Above I have started to develop some drawings of ingredients, that later can be arrange in such a way that children can see what is needed for their recipe. These images are stronger and could educate a child in where their food comes from. For example the egg, with little phrases about free range hens, and also the carrots with an image of one in the pot still growing asking "did you know you can grow your own carrots at home?". My illustrative style needs development however I feel the content is appropriate and can be taken forward.

The text is becoming unsuccessful in these drawings. Too much going on in one space will lead to an illegible recipe and a confused child. The header is fine but possibly needs to be smaller and more compact. I will develop this further.

I am considering including an interactive element that educates children into where their vegetables come from. Here the chid would follow the trails to discover different ingredients. But of course you wouldn't want an onion in a carrot cake! It says to children that carrots among many other fruit and veg all grow in the garden and perhaps this could be a fun thing to know about or even to get involved in at home.

Resolved Design/Spread

Using a drop shadow on my recipe title and adding an outline has made it stand out and will be more legible for children. It uses a closed "A" however, I have tested this spread on a range of 6-9 year olds who have all had no trouble reading it at all so i trust that this particular text is fine. The rest of my text uses open "A"s as it is smaller and less clear initially so this makes it easier to read. I have tried to create a playful spread that reminds children of where food comes from and familiarises them to the notion of reading a recipe by using Katy who appears on the T.V series. I have used bold and large numbers to illustrate the individual steps in the recipe and separated the bodies of text in order to clarify that they are separate steps visually. Bright orange and yellow correlates to the notion of the title, both "sunny" and "carrots" are visually represented. I have also attempted to create a sort of "sun-splat" to back the text.
After considerate I felt that the Cbeebies logo should be incorporated, both to show reliability and familiarity in the recipe. Parents know that it is a recipe they can trust and children will automatically respond to a familiar image.
Overall I have used simple photos for a sense of reality, and simple but bright, slightly detailed illustrations. This allows the spread to be accessible to the whole age group. The instructions are text based and informative but in a simple manner so that the parent or adult present can involve the child in the reading process, if the child isn't reading at this level just yet.

I have included an image of Katy who presents the "I can cook" series, by using this familiar face children will trust in the recipe and there is a sense of continuity between the programme and its recipe spread. In order to show where food comes from I have incorporated illustrations and images of carrots growing in the ground and eggs next to a chicken. In addition, I have used speech bubbles asking "did you know" where your food comes from. This was intended to be a fun element that both educates and 

involves a child on where the ingredients involved in this recipe originate from.

In terms of printing I my have to move some of the text around to avoid the central fold/crease but i have left space enough for this if needed.

Session 3: Task 1

Task

From two books, consider the typeface used.

The group chose this image/text due to its lack of readability. We all agreed that the image itself is strong and unique with a really interesting texture which seemingly combines traditional and contemporary approaches to design, however the typeface is far too squashed and compacted to read, even as adults we struggle to read the type quickly due to the way the ascending letters almost combine, and the rounded letters seemingly merge. In addition the manner in which the type is white against a dark background may have an effect on how we read it. People are so used to reading dark on white that this most likely contributes to the lack of clarity. Personally I find it unusual that the designer has used a serif font when overall the image is quite contemporary. This may have been a choice based on the context of the images (sailboats and watercolour as quite traditional themes and medium) yet again the way the image has been taken into a digital format and has been edited makes me feel a sans serif or more modern typeface may have been more successful. The typeface is also quite light and a heavier density may help the readability when using a light on dark style. The ascender height does not appear to have been considered efficiently either, when reading from a distance the text is not well defined in its upper and lower areas.

Here, the type compliments the illustrations perfectly. There is a sense of texture through the slightly rough edges and overall feels organic and passive much like the rest of the image. The pastel colours contribute to a feeling of calm and positivity. Also, the text in itself is playful and interactive through its positioning and structure on the page. The differentiation in size allows a separation in the text which distinguishes sentences and more dominant words such as "Twit-twoo!" that children may enjoy reading in a more enthusiastic manner. In addition the waving structure of the lines makes a connection with the cooky and organic, rural feeling illustrations. The ascenders reach clearly above the rest of the word and the serif style with larger spacing between letters creates real clarity. Overall this is a very successful relationship between illustration and text that children would respond to nicely.

Session 2

Task

Find examples of children's books to bring in to the next session. Spend time looking at the illustrative style and make notes on the following considerations:

What age do you think the title is aimed at and why do you think this?
What area does the title fit into (baby, picture / storybook, reference / information etc)
How would you describe the illustrative style of the book?
Are there any unique / unusual illustrative approaches used?
how much of what is described in the text is depicted in the illustrations. Would a child who can't yet read be able to tell the story / understand what is being conveyed?

Baby books:

Baby books are mostly aimed at babies around 4 months plus due to their often interactive and soft nature. Babies are normally teething at this age and are learning to grasp and suck and chew. So making these books textured and interactive, with attached items or teethers makes them ideal. Young babies are attracted to bright colours which is thought to be because their eye sight is not well developed enough to make out fine detail, so outline, form and scale is used as a reference, but often exaggerated to build confidence in what the child is looking at. Noises and sounds such as music or crackles can gain attention, combined with words that mommy or daddy can read to the child. This builds a relationship between sounds and shapes and objects that can later be developed into a fuller understanding and comprehension of content. The illustrative style is always basic, focusing on outline and shapes, often the characters will have large eyes which help familiarise a child with what is going on and gives them something to focus on. The books will be almost all illustration as children of this age have no real comprehension of words and certainly can't red them. But basic phonics are being recognised more and more so words such as "car" or "duck" will begin to sink in with repetition. These words which are essentially basic sounds will eventually mean more once combined with illustrations or real objects.

Picture books:

Books like the hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle are aimed mostly at 2-5 year olds. This is a good example as there is still a sense of interactivity in the book. The holes are tactile and exploratory and invite children to almost step into the story and become part of it, also making the caterpillar character more real. This provokes the imagination and also bonds the adult and child as the book becomes somewhat of a learning experience. The typeface here is organic and textured which represents the content well. Black on white makes the text more readable for the adult as well as the child which is useful as generally a book being read by an adult, to a child on their lap for example, will be holding the book at arms length. The colours are bold yet hold some truth to reality, and the forms are more to scale and will have some more detail. Generally in these books there is a simple storyline and the text will describe some but not everything going on in the image. This is good for a child as it allows them to rely visually on understanding the book and allows them to almost have the advantage over the adult because from their point of view, the adult can only understand what it is they are reading and the child effectively "sees more". This approach to children's book design is seen particularly in "Rosie's Walk" where an oblivious chicken is stalked by a not so wiley fox. The text only describes what Rosie is doing and not that there is a fox following her which allows for some excitement on for the child who can see behind her.

Reference / information books:

Books such as these rely mostly on true to life illustrations or photos, accompanied by more advanced and informative text. They educate the child and inform them of the truth. The writing progressively becomes more and more dominant within books as they are aimed at older and older children as they start to become more confident readers and rely less on visuals to grasp content. 

Somewhere in between?

This book admittedly is still one of my favourites, and even now I still read it at least once a year, and have done since I was about 6 years old. It lies somewhere in between the age brackets and i find it hard to place. The story is complex enough and detailed enough to hold an adults attention as a shorter read of about an hour, yet it is accompanied with beautiful water colour illustrations that someone a lot younger than myself can grasp. The main character, a husky/malamute is stolen during the gold rush from his manor home and thrust into life as a working sled dog where he encounters years of turmoil leading to a hopeful and inspiring end where he becomes a free and wild dog roaming with wolves. This is both educational in the sense it describes actual happenings from the time it is based, and also that it is based on a true story. But also it invites the imagination combined with beautiful illustrations that are true to life yet made almost magical through their style.