A Guide to Cooking with Children

Whether you’re whipping up a batch of gooey brownies, collaborating on the perfect pizza, or making some healthy snacks, cooking with children is a fantastic way of introducing your little one to a diverse range of flavours, textures, and even cultures. 

And if you’re busy household, with a task-list that could stretch to the moon and back, it presents a unique opportunity to spend some quality time together, with results that you can eat. What’s not to love?  

There’s even a cultural benefit as you weave in a diverse array of dishes, subtly teaching your child about foods of the world, and the people who make them.  
 
And those aren’t the only benefits of cooking with children, far from it. There are cognitive, physical, and nutritional benefits, too.  

Let’s unpack them, shall we?  

Benefits of Cooking with Children

From developing their fine motor skills to introducing them to basic scientific concepts, cooking with children is a feast for the mind, as well as the tastebuds.  

That may sound a little exaggerated, but it’s true. By its nature, cooking is an activity that requires your little one’s senses and synapses to work in harmony as they explore tastes, textures and timings.  

And that’s without mentioning the social and emotional benefits of spending time together and boosting their confidence in a real-world scenario.  

Cognitive Benefits

Whether it’s reading recipes or managing measurements, cooking is a fantastic way to support your little one’s cognitive development.  

For example, by following a basic recipe—with your supervision, of course—your little one will begin to improve their literacy skills as they follow the required steps to rustle up your chosen recipe.  

And by being exposed to the basic numbers and fractions required for measurements, they’ll develop their numeracy skills in a casual, fun environment. There’s even a scientific benefit to cooking with your little one as they’ll be introduced to the basic science of cooking, getting their first hands-on taste of concepts such as how heat changes food and how whisking changes the state of ingredients.  

Physical Benefits

From safely slicing to steadily stirring, cooking is an excellent way to hone your little one’s physical skills (all with adult supervision, naturally.)  

Take, for example, whisking a cake mix. As they get stuck in—and they will—your little one will be improving their fine motor skills, as well as their hand-eye coordination. 

Similarly, by kneading dough your little one’s gross motor skills will improve as they’ll kneed (get it?) to use larger muscle groups and bigger movements.  

Social and Emotional Benefits

There’s a reason TV adverts tend to show families in kitchens, quite literally breaking bread together. The kitchen is the heart of the home, a place for conversation and companionship.  

And that poses huge social and emotional benefits for your little one.  

Think about it. As you cook up your fantastic feast you’ll be spending quality time together, engaging in the type of shared activity that little brains love.  

Cooking can also help your little one develop a sense of responsibility and teamwork, especially if you give them an “important” task to focus on. (FYI: don’t actually give them an important task, that way lies under-whisked sauce.) 

How to Get Your Child Excited About Cooking

As we’ve (hopefully) highlighted, cooking with children is a fantastic way to spend time as a family, support your little one’s development, with a side of teaching them about other cultures. 

But what if your little one views cooking as a chore? How do you rewrite that narrative and get them excited about cooking?  

In a word: storytelling.  

That’s right. Before putting your chef’s hat on, spend a little time with your storyteller hat on and cook up some narratives to help your little one invest in the activity.  

Maybe you pretend you’re opening up a restaurant, and the dish you’re whipping up is the main course for your guests. Maybe you steer into the seasonal and devise a theme night, with a main course befitting of the time of year.  

You could even get super creative and draw inspiration from baking and cooking shows, using your phone and some basic editing software to create a family cookery show. 

However you choose to approach cooking with your little one, by sprinkling a little creativity onto the activity, you’ll keep them engaged and establish the idea that cooking is a fun activity, rather than a chore.  

Health and Safety When Cooking with Children

While cooking with children is a fun-filled, soul-nourishing activity, it’s not without safety concerns. Kitchens are, by their nature, filled with potential hazards to be mindful of.  

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, upwards of 67,000 children are injured in the kitchen each year.  

With that in mind, it’s worth anticipating any potential issues before you begin cooking up a storm with your little one. 

It goes without saying, but you should never allow your child to cook/prepare food unsupervised. It’s also worth making sure that they’re kitted out in appropriate kitchen attire, such as aprons and safe, non-baggy clothing.  

It’s also important to keep hygiene in mind, with regular washing of hands and utensils to avoid cross-contamination.  

And of course, don’t allow your little one to operate any kitchen appliances, such as blenders, electric whisks, and food processors.  

That said, the safety aspect of cooking with children is a unique teaching moment, and if you lead by example, clearly explaining as you go, your child will start to develop an understanding of staying safe in the kitchen. 

As they get older, you can begin to allow them more responsibility. (Closely supervised, of course.) 
 

Cooking with children is a wonderful family activity, packed with opportunities for your little one to sharpen key skills and develop a healthy relationship with food. 

Need some inspiration for what to cook? Check out our blog, where you’ll find articles on everything from healthy lunchbox ideas to introducing children to other cultures in the kitchen.