“Everything happens in the kitchen. Life happens in the kitchen.” - Andrew Zimmern, American culinary chef.

You might not expect it, but learning to safely prepare nourishing meals and snacks offers your child much more than a lesson in healthy eating. On top of being a fun opportunity for quality family time, cooking food teaches your kids plenty of valuable qualities and fundamental skills!

So, let’s take a look at why teaching your preschooler to cook is so useful.

Which skills does cooking teach and reinforce?

Reading

Recipes offer children the opportunity to practise their reading and learn interesting new words! As they identify ingredients and learn to explain the benefits of each, it encourages their curiosity.

For example, “Potatoes are vegetables full of vitamins and nutrients to keep our bodies strong and healthy.”

Maths

Alongside good reading practice, cooking also involves a degree of maths. When counting out ingredients such as eggs, or measuring flour on the weighing scales, children are exercising their mathematical brains.

You might say something along the lines of “We have three tomatoes and the recipe says we need five. How many more tomatoes do we need?”

Hand-eye coordination

Pouring from a jug, kneading dough, or even mixing ingredients improves a child’s hand-eye coordination and small-muscle use. Just be careful that the task you give to your child is age-appropriate and safe.

Following directions

When it comes to children, the delivery of instructions is often just as important as what you are trying to communicate. Cooking offers a great opportunity not just for children to practise following directions, but for parents to practise delivering instructions in a clear and calm manner. When giving instructions, do so one at a time, with simple, age-appropriate explanations. Be direct but give your little one time to process the information.

Something like, “Now place the carrots on the table, please.”

Independence

By preparing food for themselves and others, children build self-esteem and learn greater independence. And as their self-esteem and independence grow, so too does their emotional and social capacity develop. Just be sure to offer plenty of praise and to compliment their food!

Give them compliments, such as, “You’re doing a great job with the mixing!”

Cultural education

Exploring foods and recipes from all over the world teaches children about other cultures, and to respect the similarities and differences between them.

For example, “Latkes are a Jewish dish, typically eaten during the Hanukkah festival.”

Now that we’ve covered the lessons kids can learn, let’s take a look at a few cooking tips.

Seven easy cooking tips:

Choose recipes that don’t have many ingredients and steps to align with the capabilities of your child. Tearing up salad leaves or mixing ingredients in a large bowl are perfect tasks for a preschooler. As they get older and their motor skills develop, the recipes can become more complex.

Try to get hold of illustrated cookbooks or books with photos. The majority of early childhood learning is visual, so they’ll enjoy recipe books with pictures.

From deciding what to make to buying ingredients, involve your kids in the entire cooking experience. Even shopping can be a maths lesson!

Choose a time to cook when you won’t be rushed. It’s very important that everyone feels calm, that they can take their time and have fun.

Be patient with your children and expect there to be some mess. Cooking is about practice and trying new things; the food does not need to be perfect.

Take advantage of the opportunity to teach your kids! Discuss the ingredients and directions and explain how the foods change in the process.

Include cleaning up in the cooking process, too, as it teaches children about responsibility and accountability.

Why should I teach my kids how to cook?