The kitchen isn’t just for cooking, it can be a great place to get children involved, supporting their learning and development.
It’s easy to think of the kitchen as a room in the house that is for the adults; it’s where we do jobs, feed our family, do the washing up – and it’s not much of a space for children. But it can provide lots of learning opportunities. Children want to be with you and be part of your world, so thinking of ways that they can be involved in the kitchen (such as helping to chop vegetables, finding tins, mixing, measuring, or washing up) can really promote this.
We’re joined by Julie Pearson, an early years development manager at the Early Years Alliance, who is here to offer expert tips and ideas.
Exploring Foods
The kitchen is the perfect place for exploring foods: you can talk about textures and tastes, and children are also more likely to eat a wider variety of foods if they have been part of the process of preparing it. Healthy eating starts young, and so allowing children more variety early on will help them to try new things, have a more varied healthy diet and get used to different tastes and textures in their mouth.
Here’s some ideas to help them explore foods
1. Let Them Prepare Their Own Snacks
Maybe they could chop up some banana for their own snack or tear up some lettuce for a salad at teatime?
Using items such as child-friendly knives and scissors (safely!) supports children’s fine motor control and dexterity, as well as their self-confidence, sense of responsibility, and ability to manage their own safety.
2. Always Make Sure They Are Safe And You Are Supervising
You know your child’s capabilities, so give them tasks that they will enjoy and that will challenge them, but also be aware of what they can manage and safety at all times.
Children should always be supervised in the kitchen and when using equipment and eating food. Think about using a child safety knife or a cutlery knife for chopping rather that sharp kitchen knife. It’s also important to consider how you put safeguards in place from other dangers in the kitchen, such as making sure children don’t go near hot surfaces such as ovens and hobs.
3. “Where Does It Come From?” Educate Your Little Ones
When exploring food, you can talk to children about where food comes from. This is a great way to help them understand the world. Do they know where milk comes from, for example? This could lead on to talking and learning about animals and farms, and help children understand where their food comes from.
4. Look At Packaging And Learn About Recycling
Packaging on food and kitchen products can also help children to learn about ingredients, symbols and about recycling, providing an opportunity to talk about what happens to our bags and bottles and boxes, and how we can make careful choices to help protect our planet.
Getting Involved In Daily Tasks
As well as preparing food together, think about other things that you can do. Involving your child in day-to-day tasks in the kitchen will help you to feel closer and develop the bond between you, which in turn will support children’s sense of belonging and self-confidence, as well as encouraging their communication and ability to make relationships with others.
5. Offer Them Praise (Especially For Effort!)
Allowing children to be a part of activities will help them to become aware of the impact of their actions as well as hearing positive praise. It’s therefore a great way to build their confidence in their own abilities, especially if they feel trusted with an activity and are trying new things.
6. Allow Them To Express Their Emotions
Remember cooking, baking and other tasks don’t always go to plan: sometimes things go wrong, or mistakes are made – and children can begin to recognise a range of emotions in the kitchen, such as frustration, but also patience, pride and a sense of achievement. Naming these emotions as children feel them can help them put words to their feelings as well as begin to manage them.
7. Don’t Take Over When They Make Little Mistakes
It is also important to step back sometimes and allow mistakes to happen. Jumping in to help sometimes means you are taking over. Children need to try for themselves, make a mess and see what happens to be able to practise skills and realise the impact of their actions. Real-life experiences can also support children’s imaginative play as they mimic what they have seen. The more experiences children have, the more they can use their imaginations and further their learning by basing their play off real-life events.
Introducing Mathematics
The kitchen is a good place to introduce early mathematical skills. There are a lot of numbers introduced when cooking. Including:
8. Count Ingredients Together
Counting ingredients or setting the table for the correct number of people.
9. An Introduction To Measurements
You can also introduce measurements by reading recipes and noticing numbers on scales, jugs, or counting spoonfuls. Use everyday activities to introduce mathematical concepts such as ‘half’, ‘full’ and ‘empty’, as well as starting to introduce the concept of time.
10. Learning About Timings
Time can be hard to visualise for children so think about how you can support this. Try using visual timetables and timers. Cooking can support this understanding – you might, for example have to wait for 15 minutes for biscuits to be cooked.
11. Have Fun Making Noise!
Finally, why not create a kitchen music band? Children love to make music and you don’t need instruments. You can use pots, pans, jugs, wooden or metal spoons and tins to allow children to explore making different sounds and learn different concepts like fast, slow, loud, quiet, high, low etc. You can also sing songs along with the music and help children learn about rhythm and beats.
Early Years Alliance
For more FREE information, advice and tips on supporting your child’s early learning and development, visit the Early Years Alliance’s Family corner website. Family Corner is the family arm of the Early Years Alliance, offering expert articles, activity ideas and online learning sessions on key areas of child development such as learning through play, communication, behaviour, health, nutrition and wellbeing.
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