What are children cooking activities? Get the kids into the kitchen to learn!

Got real kids? Give them a real kitchen!

Have you noticed how eagerly children explore a “pretend” kitchen? How delighted they are by miniature pans and utensils? How they love play children cooking activities?

A real kitchen is ten times as enchanting! Making a simple dinner dish from start to finish provides children with a level of satisfaction “pretend” cooking just can’t touch!

Here’s a secret every parent should know: children as young as 3 years can handle real food preparation in a real kitchen. 20th century scientist and educator Maria Montessori “discovered” this key insight.

Dr. Montessori suggested that young children can easily learn even complicated processes when adults present single skills one at a time. After mastering single skills, children become ready, willing, and able to synthesize them into a complete process.

Parents don’t need to be Montessori teachers to identify single skills. Start by doing a process yourself; jot down each step and the tool or movement you used. Then, organize individual activities around single tools or movements.

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For example, mashing potatoes breaks down into three main activities: scrubbing, chopping, and mashing. Each of those single skills can be further broken into steps. Practice the steps yourself, just as you’ve written them, before presenting them to the child.

 

Tips for showing young children a cooking activity

? Present activities in a relaxed setting without any time pressure.
? Gather all supplies and place them on a placemat, atop a counter or table your child can reach comfortably.
? Put on your aprons and wash your hands together.
? Sit down side by side, so your child can clearly see your hands.
? Demonstrate one activity from beginning to end, then invite your child to have a turn.
? Stay with the child and watch.
? Present steps again as needed until children can manage independently.
? Offer many opportunities for practice!

 

Is your child ready to scrub, chop, and mash potatoes?

As every parent knows, individual children develop at their own pace. Generally, children will be ready for these tasks anywhere between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years.

Only watching the child “at work” can accurately tell a parent what an individual child is ready to accomplish. Frustration can mean he isn’t quite ready; try again a little later. Boredom might mean he is already ready to put single skills together to complete the whole process.

Of course, children in the kitchen need adult supervision. Even after they are working independently, stay close and observe. After you’ve seen each single activity completed with confidence several times, it will be time to try the entire process.

Tools that fit their small hands and a counter they can reach without leaning or kneeling are critical to success. To gain a child’s-eye perspective of learning to cook in a “giant’s” kitchen, imagine standing on a ladder while stirring a bathtub full of cake batter with a garden shovel!

A child-size work area and step-by-step presentations of single skills allow young children to contribute to the family in a meaningful way as they learn. Rest assured, even the youngest child knows the difference between playing with mud pies and making mashed potatoes.

 

Let’s scrub the potatoes!

You’ll need: Aprons (one for your child and one for you); bowl for potatoes (before scrubbing); washing bowl filled with water; vegetable brush; bowl for clean potatoes; sponge.

TIP: Several small potatoes offer more practice than one big potato.

1. Place one potato in the water.

2. Steady it in the water with one hand.

3. With the other hand, scrub the potato with the vegetable brush, using an up-to-down motion (wet the brush as you scrub).

4. Turn the potato and continue scrubbing until it is clean.

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