12/27/2021
Benefits of cooking with your toddlers? There are so many benefits to letting your kids help out in the kitchen, with supervision.
Reasons to start spending more time cooking with your toddlers.
1. Mathematics skills
Measuring and combining ingredients, altering recipes, and increasing recipe amounts are all excellent real life applications of mathematics.
2. Literacy skills
Following recipes really helps to promote reading comprehension. You are not only reading the words with your toddler, you are really focusing on what those words mean and what steps they are instructing you to take in order to prepare a particular dish.
3. Science in action
Cooking really is a great cause-and-effect type of science! What happens when you heat up butter? What happens when you add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients? Cooking allows your toddler to explore many fascinating interactions between different substances.
4. Following instructions
Following a recipe is an excellent way for your toddler to practice following instructions.
5. Language and vocabulary
Cooking is a great way to introduce new words, phrases and concepts to your children. They will learn the meaning of words like whip, beat, combine, sift, measure, simmer, chill, knead, and many more that they otherwise may not hear or use.
6. Communication skills
As you cook with your toddler you will be discussing what you're doing, giving each other instructions and making observations to each other.
7. Creativity
Cooking can be about following a rigid set of instructions, but it can also be about winging it and seeing what happens.
8. Promotes cooperation and sharing
Taking turns mixing, cracking one egg each, having one child pour the milk in while the other pours the melted butter, etc are all good examples of implementing this skill while cooking. If you are cooking with just one child, you can definitely still practice sharing by taking turns with your child and sharing the work with them.
9. Life skills that will help them when they reach adulthood
By making cooking a part of your child's life early on they will get so much valuable practice for their adult lives. By the time they reach adulthood and need to cook for themselves and their own families they will be competent and confident in their ability to prepare healthy foods and reduce the need to rely on processed and fast foods.
10. Builds their coordination and fine motor skills
Pouring, scooping, measuring, mixing, these are all great ways for your children to work on their fine motor skills. These simple activities that are a fundamental part of cooking encourage your toddler to move with coordination and precision.
11. Quality bonding time with your children
Cooking together is one of the best ways to spend quality time with your toddlers. The whole experience will be so much fun for both of you and you will be creating wonderful family memories.
12. Gives your toddler a self confidence boost
Learning to cook gives your toddler an enormous sense of pride, accomplishment and self confidence. Just take a look at the expression on their little faces when they present the finished product for a taste test and proudly exclaim that they created this!
13. A great sensory experience
Cooking is such a good way to engage all your toddler's senses. Let them immerse themselves in this ultimate sensory experience, let them dig their (clean) hands into the dough, let them smell and taste all the safe ingredients you're using (don't allow your children to taste raw meats, raw eggs, etc), let them get messy!
14. Opportunity to teach them to clean up messes in the kitchen after cooking
Cooking with toddlers can be extremely messy! Take this opportunity to show your children the importance of cleaning up after themselves. Show them the steps to take to clean up - dispose of any scraps and rubbish appropriately, put all unused ingredients away where they belong, wash dishes, wipe bench tops, sweep floors. These skills are just as valuable to your children as cooking skills are, and practicing them now will save them a lot of trouble later on in life.
15. Opportunity to demonstrate and discuss risks in the kitchen and how to navigate them safely
Raising kids is not about eliminating all the risks - it's about providing them with the knowledge and skills to safely navigate any risks they may come across in life. Sharp knives, hot ovens, hot water, etc are all part of cooking, and your children will benefit so much from learning which of these risks they are ready to handle, and how to handle them safely.
16. Teaches them to appreciate the work put in to a home cooked meal
Children are much more likely to appreciate the fact that someone has cooked them a meal if they understand the work that has been put into it. Without cooking themselves, small children have very little idea that there is a process behind the meal they are eating. Remember to thank whoever has prepared the family meal, and encourage your children to do the same.
17. It's FUN!
Cooking with your toddlers is FUN! You will enjoy each other's company, be silly together, and encourage each other. You will spend this time devoting your complete attention to one another and the fun task at hand. This one is without a doubt the very best reason for cooking with your toddlers!
