Is 'kitchen' science a good route to 'real' science for primary age children?

Setting science in a meaningful context is part of the tool kit for primary teachers.
Unless children can relate classroom activities to their own experiences attention can wander and not much gets understood. So using kitchen science is a great way in.

All CIEC activities are context based - mainly an industrial context so the science in school and its practical applications become linked.

Jenny Harvey, CIEC Advisory Teacher in the North East, recently delivered some of the Kitchen Concoction activities at Breckon Hill School, Middlesborough. This was followed by the children visiting local industry Chemoxy International where the children were able to see some of the science they had discovered for themselves in school being put into practice.

Year 6 at Breckon Hill Primary school, Middlesborough, making bubbles after developing their own 'best' mixture with guidance from Kitchen Concoctions

Focusing on the use of mixtures in the kitchen. Children examine a mince-pie as a 'mixture' and compare 'real' dairy cream with imitation aerosol cream. Activities include making a soap bar, developing a bubble mixture, investigating the effectiveness of washing products and scourers, and making a simple fire extinguisher.