Cooking with children provides many different learning opportunities. Having to coax kids into eating veggies or try different foods is not a fun or easy way to raise someone that will enjoy food. Getting your children to enjoy food as much as they enjoy sweets and snacks takes patience and practice.
It also takes strategy. Your goal is to have all elements of choosing, preparing, cooking and eating food to feel like an adventure and to be pleasing activity. You don’t want to make it a chore. To do this, you need to craft experiences where your children can enjoy food.
Cooking with kids is a great way to do that. It’s amazing to grab a few ingredients and make something out of it. If you have enthusiasm for cooking, your children will definitely enjoy helping out and learning new things.
Cooking with your children provide many learning experiences; they get to learn about math and science without meaning to, they will also learn about properties of food and what it provides for us, plus it’s a lot of fun and it offers rich sensory experiences.
Here are a few ideas to help you get started and to enjoy cooking with children!
1. Engage Their Senses
If you’re dealing with a hesitant or picky eater, tasting new foods can be intimidating and it’s not uncommon for them to completely shut the experience down. One of the things you can do to help your child explore new foods is to engage senses other than taste. Start with sensory experiences such as making bread so your children can knead the dough, rinsing veggies with different textures, etc. Also, engage their sense of smell with different herbs and spices; make sure they smell everything. All this will make tasting a lot easier.
2. Teach Them Through Cooking
Cooking will help you to teach your children many different things. Math concepts such as counting and measuring will be made easier to grasp in the kitchen. Science such as how things reach temperature or what makes bread dough rise are also useful concepts that are easier to grasp while cooking. Vocabulary is also enriched in the kitchen, especially if you encourage your children to describe the taste, feel and look of things.
3. Make Cooking a Part of Your Family Culture
If you make it a habit to cook together at least once or twice a week and really go all out making a delicious meal, your children will associate food with positive experiences and feelings. Make it a habit to find new recipes to try and include your children in the process as well. Encourage them to find recipes they might enjoy and make it a tradition!
4. Keep Things Safe
Kitchen safety is key if you want to include your children in your cooking. Make sure you teach them about kitchen safety as you go. And if you usually overlook it, it’s a great opportunity to create better habits. Use oven mitts to protect your hands, use tools correctly and safely, and make sure the tasks are appropriate for kids.
It also takes strategy. Your goal is to have all elements of choosing, preparing, cooking and eating food to feel like an adventure and to be pleasing activity. You don’t want to make it a chore. To do this, you need to craft experiences where your children can enjoy food.
Cooking with kids is a great way to do that. It’s amazing to grab a few ingredients and make something out of it. If you have enthusiasm for cooking, your children will definitely enjoy helping out and learning new things.
Cooking with your children provide many learning experiences; they get to learn about math and science without meaning to, they will also learn about properties of food and what it provides for us, plus it’s a lot of fun and it offers rich sensory experiences.
Here are a few ideas to help you get started and to enjoy cooking with children!
1. Engage Their Senses
If you’re dealing with a hesitant or picky eater, tasting new foods can be intimidating and it’s not uncommon for them to completely shut the experience down. One of the things you can do to help your child explore new foods is to engage senses other than taste. Start with sensory experiences such as making bread so your children can knead the dough, rinsing veggies with different textures, etc. Also, engage their sense of smell with different herbs and spices; make sure they smell everything. All this will make tasting a lot easier.
2. Teach Them Through Cooking
Cooking will help you to teach your children many different things. Math concepts such as counting and measuring will be made easier to grasp in the kitchen. Science such as how things reach temperature or what makes bread dough rise are also useful concepts that are easier to grasp while cooking. Vocabulary is also enriched in the kitchen, especially if you encourage your children to describe the taste, feel and look of things.
3. Make Cooking a Part of Your Family Culture
If you make it a habit to cook together at least once or twice a week and really go all out making a delicious meal, your children will associate food with positive experiences and feelings. Make it a habit to find new recipes to try and include your children in the process as well. Encourage them to find recipes they might enjoy and make it a tradition!
4. Keep Things Safe
Kitchen safety is key if you want to include your children in your cooking. Make sure you teach them about kitchen safety as you go. And if you usually overlook it, it’s a great opportunity to create better habits. Use oven mitts to protect your hands, use tools correctly and safely, and make sure the tasks are appropriate for kids.
