Cooking dinner can sometimes seem like a big hassle. But what if you thought of it as a chance to create family memories and give your kids new learning opportunities? My daughter already loves cooking and working in the kitchen. She loves baking with her grandmother, and she already helps to choose and prepare one meal a week. There are so many great lessons that can be taught while cooking, so I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to teach kids in the kitchen!

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Choosing Meals

Before you even start cooking, the first step to making a meal is choosing what to eat. This is also one of the first opportunities to teach your kids. My mother insisted from a young age that my sister and I should choose one meal a week. This ensured that we would each have at least one meal on the menu that we enjoyed (and didn’t complain about). It also opens a conversation about healthy meal choices. My mother insisted that our meals always had a protein, a side dish, and a fruit and a vegetable. Before my daughter turned 4, she already knew that each meal should include a protein. This early interest in healthy food choices will help her as she grows and her tastes change.

Actionable Tip: Let your kids choose one meal this week. Search through fun cookbooks for ideas. My daughter’s current favorite is the Disney Princess Cookbook.

Related Post: Reading at the Grocery Store

Reading & Following Directions

One of the most straightforward ways to learn in the kitchen is to practice reading. Once you have chosen a recipe, encourage your kids to read through the recipe. Get out the ingredients as you read them. For kids who are too young to read the whole recipe, have them match the names of ingredients in the recipe with the names on the packaging, when possible. Reading a recipe is different than reading a regular book, so it encourages them to recognize the differences between types of texts and the skills needed to decipher them.

Actionable Tip: Read through each step in a recipe together and discuss any vocabulary words that they don’t recognize.

Creating the Recipe

There are lots of opportunities to teach kids while making a recipe. Measuring ingredients offers the opportunity to talk about how to measure liquids versus solids, as well as counting and pouring. You can also emphasize the correct way to mix, stir and whisk ingredients, and how changing the order or types of ingredients can alter the outcome of the recipe.

Actionable Tip: Encourage kids to measure ingredients on their own and add them to a recipe.

Safety

Cooking and baking can be dangerous if not approached with skill and care. Food safety includes how to handle different ingredients and keeping refrigerated items at the right temperature when not in use. It also includes washing your hands and cooking surfaces, especially while handling raw meat and eggs, and properly cooking meat to the correct temperatures.

Kitchen safety can include conversations about how to properly handle knives and hot appliances, as well as keeping the area clear of tripping hazards. Cooking also offers an opportunity to discuss fire safety, the location and use of fire extinguishers, and how to handle kitchen fires.

Actionable Tip: Show your kids where the fire extinguisher is located, and discuss the proper location and rules for handling sharp utensils and hot appliances. Remind them not to touch knives or appliances without an adult present.

Related: Stop, Drop and Roll Your Way to Fire Safety

Nutrition & Eating

Once you have made a meal together, there are still lots of learning opportunities in the kitchen. While you are trying new foods with little ones, you can talk about the senses and the different flavor areas on the tongue. As they get older, you can talk about proper nutrition, the food pyramid, and properly filling a plate. Teaching them proper eating habits early can help them later on in life!

Actionable Tip: Talk to kids about what they are eating and encourage them to use their senses. Do they like how it looks, smells or tastes? What could they add to their favorite food to make it healthier?

Learning and Cooking Go Hand in Hand

There are so many reasons to cook with your kids. Besides spending time together as a family and creating lifelong memories, you can also help kids to build good habits for later in life. Plus, it can help kids to feel comfortable in the kitchen, which is an important skill for them to have.

What are your favorite ways to teach kids in the kitchen? Share in the comments below!

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