Although cooking may seem like an activity too advanced for young children, that couldn’t be further from the truth! Get your kids in the kitchen with you, and lay the foundations for a multitude of life skills, including creativity, math, fine motor skills, good hygiene, following directions, and teamwork.

 

Even the littlest pair of hands can be a good kitchen helper if you give some guidance and assistance! Toddlers can get a stool, a chair, or be propped up by their parents so they are able to wash fruits and vegetables in the sink. They can use plastic silverware to pretend (or sometimes actually help) to cut up soft produce. They can use their hands to scoop and mix ingredients together. Early elementary-aged children can assist with measuring ingredients, setting the table, getting ingredients out of the cupboard or refrigerator, setting timers, and more! Older children can help read the recipe, turn on appliances, load the dishwasher, fill up water glasses, and prepare ingredients. All of these actions develop fine motor skills, the dexterity and coordination that all children need to succeed in school and in life!

 

Cooking together helps children build their vocabulary. With toddlers and young children, make sure to point out and name foods at the grocery store as you put them into your cart (or let them help pick out and bag foods such as apples, bananas, potatoes, or other small produce items). You can practice counting the number of foods, or talk about measurements such as cups and teaspoons, or doubling/dividing recipes, laying the foundation for a strong math vocabulary. Reading a recipe out loud introduces children to new, advanced terms such as “chop,” “mince,” “sauté,” or “broil.” At the end, give children new words to describe a food’s taste and texture (sweet, savory, sour, spicy, dry, tender, crunchy, juicy, etc!).

Here are some helpful tips for cooking with kids:

1. Planning is part of the fun. Let children flip through cookbooks or scan the Internet for possible recipe ideas! If they are old enough, have them write a list of ingredients and tools needed.
2. Safety and health are a priority. Have children wash hands before touching any ingredients and always after touching raw foods such as eggs or meat. Move materials to a low table for toddlers and preschoolers, and get a step stool for older children. Have clear rules about potential dangers such as a hot oven, the stove, and knives.
3. Practice reading and math. Reading a recipe or measuring ingredients are two easy ways to make cooking a positive learning experience. You might move through the steps of a recipe much slower, but know that your children are developing essential life skills in the process!
4. Use this as a time to introduce new foods. Research studies show that children are much more likely to try (and enjoy) new foods when they are part of the preparation and cooking process. In some situations (like with my own VERY picky child), even getting him to touch and smell new foods was a huge step in the right direction.
5. Be spontaneous enough to have fun. Tweaking the recipe to make it more interesting is totally fine. Making “faces” on pizzas, using cookie cutters to make unique sandwich shapes, or adding sprinkles to baked goods can all make a recipe more enticing to children. Kids sometimes find strange flavor combinations delicious, so try to be open to their suggestions and ideas!

Want to learn more? Usborne Books and More has a variety of titles related to food and cooking. In “Create Your Own Pizzeria,” kids can learn about business, design, and economics as they build and plan their own pizza restaurant. “It All Starts With A Seed” uses beautiful illustrations to teach children about where their food comes from. For a more farm-to-table feel, “The Usborne Book Of Growing Food” gives many examples of how to grow your own food at home. Most of the projects can be done on a windowsill or balcony, so a garden isn’t even needed!

Each of these titles can be ordered from my website at: https://c6052.myubam.com/