How to Start with your Baby/Toddler in the Kitchen
There are so so many benefits of inviting your child to cook with you and here are some:
Works those fine motor skills. The best part about cooking with your child is that is truly adaptable to the level of challenge they can take. This way, there’s always fine motor skills they can be working on. Think of pouring, cracking, peeling, cutting, kneading and mixing. Most of these activities also work on bilateral coordination.
Prepares the hands for writing. Hand and hand with fine motor skills, but a more straightforward benefit is how all that work with their hands strengthens the muscles they need to hold a pencil later on.
Develops the mathematical mind. There’s actually a lot of ways in which cooking does this. One is the simple use of materials and volumes, but there’s also the learning of sequences which prepares the brain for logical thinking and understanding algorithms.
Then there’s the counting of ingredients and the one-to-one correspondence experience when making things like cupcakes.
Supports language development. There’s just so much language involved in cooking!
Builds connection. It’s a great family activity and they get to contribute to their home.
Ok, so when can you start?
Probably sooner than you think. You can actually invite your child to the kitchen as an spectator first (once they can sit). You can have some sort of baby container and let them watch you while also pass along some of the things you are using, mouthing safe items. A spatula for example or a full apple to explore.
Once they are able to stand up confidently you can use a kitchen tower for them to stand with you at the counter. We started at 14 months old, but it will depend on your child and how comfortable you feel. You don’t need to rush, my main advice is always listen to your mama gut.
We used this kitchen tower from the beginning and it has been and is our most used item at 4 years old. You can use code Halfway10 for 10% off.
As an older baby (~15ish months) there’s 2 main things they could start doing. Pouring and transferring. Which also happens to be some of their favorite things to do at this age.
For transferring, we did a lot from the cutting board to whatever bowl we were using. For example if we did homemade applesauce, she would transfer the apple slices to the steaming pan. If we were roasting veggies she would transfer them to the roasting pan.
Keep in mind, you don’t have to invite them to do complicated things at this point. Simply making snack time together works. For example, you can cut fruit and they can transfer it to the bowl they’ll eat it in.
Pouring is another great skill to start practicing. We started with these tiny pitchers that are easy to pick for tiny hands.
Expect misses! this is truly a skill they need to learn. You can also start practicing before inviting them to do it for cooking (just using water). We did this as an activity regularly and she absolutely loved it.
An easy way to practice pouring is by making oatmeal together. You pour the oatmeal on a pitcher or a measuring cup, they pour it in the bowl. Then you do the same with the water or milk in a tiny pitcher.
We did banana oatmeal pancakes a lot when she was a baby and we still do them (recipe here). I would start by peeling and smashing a banana with her and then she would pour the other ingredients. I would as last step, crack and mix the eggs. I would let her handle the eggs briefly as well.
Another thing you can do, but less often, is shake spices. We did this a lot too when things would be ok with some extra amount added. Like cinnamon for the applesauce.
Keep in mind, what they’re interested in learning is the skill and so they might want to repeat actions over and over and get frustrated when they need to stop. That’s why I really tried to offer opportunities that needed more than a one time action.
Finally, peeling bananas is an easy step to include them in, but less independent. You hold start peeling it and then they pull the rest while you hold the banana.
The prep…
I only premeasured ingredients if we didn’t have a lot of time for cooking and I could get some done while she was napping. Although sometimes you can feel rushed with an eager toddler waiting for their turn, I think it’s important for them to develop that patience and understanding of things taking time and effort. Aside from being able to learn from observation.
However, it can feel more stressful if they’re on the impatient side and so I would say do what works best for you. If premeasuring the ingredients is what allows you to be in the right space to offer your child to cook with you and avoid messes or accidents, then by all means do that. Also, some recipes might have a lot of ingredients and then it just makes sense to do some ahead of time.
I never placed a tray to contain messes, I’ve always just clean as we go, but maybe a tray would have been a good idea. It might make you feel more confident about things not being wasted, or it might be a better way to handle cooking with multiple children. Do what works best for you!
Hope this helps to get you started!
Notes & disclaimers:
*Some of this links to products are affiliated. This means, I get a small commission when you buy them from the link posted in this page. This is at no cost to you.
