Are you looking for ways to involve your young child in the kitchen but aren’t sure where to start? Cooking with your child can be fun, help them learn traditions and skills, and lead to them trying new foods. But it can be tricky to figure out what they can do at a young age. Keep reading for some tips on cooking with kids under five years old.
Safety first! Always keep your child away from hot surfaces, sharp objects like knives, and breakable items like glass bowls. Set up a cooking station in a safe place where they can observe you, like a high chair or seat at the kitchen counter or table.
For the youngest chefs (under two years old), start them off with exploring food and observing. Give them whole fruits and vegetables to smell and feel. Later, they can help you by washing them in the sink. Give them wooden and plastic utensils to play with, such as mixing spoons, spatulas, and ladles, and a mixing bowl, so they can imitate you as you cook. Explain all the things you are doing to help build language skills.
Let them try tearing and mashing next. Little ones can be a big help preparing the lettuce for this Sunshine Salad. They can also tear up kale to make Crunchy Kale Chips. Mashing bananas with a fork for Banana Pancakes is a good way to try mashing. Our recipe for Easy Pea-sy Avocado Toast involves mashing, and lets your child decorate the toast how they want!
Once your child reaches preschool age, they can learn other cooking skills like mixing, squeezing, shaping, sprinkling, and spreading. Dilly Spinach Dip is a great recipe to practice squeezing the water out of spinach, measuring spices, and mixing it all together. Try making Zucchini Pizza Bites and allow them to sprinkle the cheese on top. Or for a totally different type of pizza, have your child spread the apple butter on a Berry Good Pizza and top it with fruit in whatever pattern they like. Just remember to have fun together in the kitchen!
