PLAYBOOKS: FOR THE NINTENDO DS

Cooking Mama

Kids can create and cook meals all by themselves! They will boil, stir-fry, chop, dice, bake, and peal their way to delicious new dishes!

Game play alone results in modest improvements in real-world executive skills. Please refer to our Playbook Tutorial, general coaching and comprehensive guides to transfer game skills to sustainable real-life behaviors.

QUICK FACTS

Game Type: Simulation, Mini-game
Platform/Console: Nintendo DS
Number of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
LWK Recommended Age: 8+ (some reading skills required)
Buy Now From: Amazon.com

 

This Game is Good for Kids Who Need Help With:

• Varying routines (flexibility)
• Thinking creatively (flexibility)
• Judging how long something takes (time management)
• Completing step-by-step problems (planning)

What You Need to Know About the Game:

“Cooking Mama” is great for kids of all ages, but young children who cannot yet read may struggle with this game. It is imperative that players be able to understand the written instructions that Mama give for each food dish; however parents may be able to explain the basic skills required to prepare the cuisine. From there, younger kids may be able to use visual cues to decide what to do rather than use Mama’s instructions.

Solutions:

Many free fan-made walkthroughs can be found on the internet. We suggest you look here.

This Game Helps Your Kids With Flexibility:

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with varying routines and thinking creatively, because they:

• Can change existing recipes by adding or changing ingredients. Sometimes while players are creating a meal they are presented with the option of creating a completely different dish. For example, while cooking Spaghetti Napoleon, kids will be able to choose between completing that particular recipe and adding seafood to make Seafood Spaghetti. The option to prepare new dishes from old ones provides opportunities for kids to try new things and to think in new and creative ways.

Talking Points: 

• How do you make Seafood Spaghetti?
• How did being flexible help you to try out new recipes like Seafood Spaghetti?
• How can creating new recipes from old ones help you to adapt to new situations at home and at school?

Making It Real:

• Conduct cooking “experiments”. Make a number of varieties of chocolate chip cookies, including those with walnuts, orange rind, or other types of flavored chips. Try substituting ingredients, e.g., low-fat milk for cream in a recipe. Discuss the pros and cons of the different varieties and how trying out new things broadens one’s perspective.
  

This Game Helps Your Kids With Time Management:

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with judging how long something takes, because they must:

• Complete each cooking step in a timely manner. In many cases this isn’t much different than real life meal preparation: when we are baking a cake we need to put the batter into the oven before it thickens, then we need to turn on the oven timer so that we don’t over or undercook the cake. In “Cooking Mama” kids will need to complete each step before the clock in the upper right hand corner runs out of time. If the clock stops before players are finished with a step, they will have to stop that step immediately and move on to the next.  Mama will then deduct points during the “taste test” and as a result they may only receive a bronze or a silver medal for their meal.  This means that they will need to work quickly and efficiently to complete the best meal possible.

Talking Points:

• How do you know how much time you have to complete a cooking step?
• How did working quickly and efficiently help you to get gold or silver medals from Mama?
• How can preparing meals in a timely manner help you to work fast if there is a deadline?

Making It Real:

• Play time-estimating games with children. Randomly ask them, “what time is it?” or “how long has it been since we left the house?” Be certain that you can give them the exact amount of time that has elapsed. This is an effort to make children more cognizant of time and the passage of time.

This Game Helps Your Kids With Planning:

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with completing step-by-step problems, because they must:

• Plan and prepare meals, though they don’t do this in the traditional sense. Actually, Mama plans out the meals for players! In a sense, Mama acts as your child’s cooking coach by taking him or her through the meals step by step. Should your child decide to make boiled eggs, for example, she will walk him or her through boiling the eggs (first step) and will ask them to peal the eggs next (second step). Because Mama guides kids through the cooking steps, she actually teaches them how to plan and make meals. And since “Cooking Mama” is a simulation game, it’s easy for kids to see the similarities between cooking in-game and cooking in real-life. As an added bonus, your kids get try out the meal-making process in a safe and child-friendly environment!

Talking Points:

• How do you go about preparing a meal in “Cooking Mama”?
• How did Mama help you plan meals?
• How can planning and preparing meals with Mama help you to be able to systematically make a simple meal such as a sandwich?

Making It Real:

• Ask children to give you step-by-step directions for doing a simple activity. Focus on the need to have materials available and then how to do and then complete the project. For example, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich involves gathering bread, peanut butter, jelly, a plate, a knife, and maybe a napkin. Then children need to construct the sandwich, first by putting the bread on the plate, putting the peanut butter and jelly on it, putting it together, and cutting it in half. Children then need to put away the materials, wash the utensils, and hopefully eat the sandwich. Many other activities require a series of steps such as this and are opportunities to get children to think about multi-step projects. These might include washing one’s clothes. Steps such as taking them from the laundry basket to putting detergent and the clothes into the washing machine, turning on the washing machine, placing the clothes in the drying, folding the clothes, returning them to their rooms, and them putting them away in drawers are also useful. Other activities include getting ready for school, going to the movies with friends, or having a friend sleep over.