ABSTRACT
The Effects of Gardening Activities-Related Cooking Experiences on Children's Dietary Habits and Playfulness Levels
Kang Mi-Kyeong
Department of Early Childhood Education
The Graduate School of Education
Chongshin University
This study exa...
ABSTRACT
The Effects of Gardening Activities-Related Cooking Experiences on Children's Dietary Habits and Playfulness Levels
Kang Mi-Kyeong
Department of Early Childhood Education
The Graduate School of Education
Chongshin University
This study examines the effects of gardening activities-related experiences on young children's dietary habits and playfulness levels through the cooking activities using ingredients grown and harvested by the children themselves.
The research questions set for achieving the purpose of this study are as follows:
1. How are the cooking activities of young children affecting their dietary habits when related to gardening activities experiences?
2. How are the cooking activities of young children affecting their playfulness levels when related to gardening activities experiences?
The participants of this study were 26 children at a child care center located in N City, in Gyeonggi-do. The experiment was were conducted by 12 times in total, once or twice a week for 8 weeks from Oct. 20 to Dec. 11, 2015. Young Children in the experimental group were provided with gardening activities-related cooking experiences a total of 12 times, while children in the control group were provided with programs from the National Standardized Child Care Curriculum.
'Research of Children's Dietary Habits' by Kim, Du-Rye (2001), and 'Recording Sheet of Children's Playfulness Measurement' by Lee, Hwa-young (2012), an adaptation of the Children's Playfulness Scale (CPS) originating from Barnett (1991) were used for the measurement of dietary habits and playfulness levels.
To measure the differences between the two groups, a correlated T-test comprising a SPSS 22.0 program for statistical verification was used.
The results of this experiment are as follows:
Firstly, statistically significant differences in dietary habits were shown between the experimental group who had been exposed to gardening activities-related cooking experiences and the control group, who were only exposed to the National Standardized Child Care Curriculum. More specifically, the differences between two groups were shown in the sub-factors of this variable such as dietary behavior, dietary sanitation, and dining etiquette. This finding shows that gardening activities-related cooking experiences have positively affected the development of children's dietary habits.
Secondly, statistically significant differences in playfulness levels were shown between the experimental group who had been exposed to gardening activities-related cooking experiences and the control group, who were only exposed to the National Standardized Child Care Curriculum. There were differences between two groups in the sub-factors of playfulness, the children's physical spontaneity, societal spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, expression of delightfulness, and sense of humor. These results indicate that gardening activities-related cooking experiences had a positive effect on the development of children's playfulness.
This study was meaningful in proving the influences of gardening activities-related cooking experiences on children's dietary habits and playfulness. The results might contribute to develop the meaningful program for young children's development.