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The
cold winter months are a wonderful time to begin cooking with your toddler and
two-year old (or older) child. Cooking helps teach and reinforce many science,
literacy, and math concepts and can reinforce good nutrition if you select
appropriate recipes.
Sometimes adults react to the suggestion that they should cook with children by
talking about the danger of access to hot stoves and ovens. These adults are
absolutely correct to be concerned about safety but with a few simple rules and
preparation cooking can be a safe, learning activity for young children.
Learning from Cooking
Toddlers and twos learn about Math as they:
 Count the number of
ingredients. “Billy, put three strawberries in our bowl…one, two, three…”
Count out the spoonfuls of
flour in the pie crust recipe.
Measure the amount of lemon
juice or water for the lemonade recipe.
Talk or hear the adult talk
about big and little.
Talk or hear the adult
classify ingredients by color and other characteristics.
Compare the sizes and shapes
of the various ingredients.
Toddlers and twos learn about Science as they:
Observe and talk or hear the
adult talk about the transformation of ingredients as they are mixed or heated.
For example, the gooey cookie dough comes out of the oven hard.
Use their five senses to
gather information about the ingredients and the completed dish.
Predict what will happen as
they put the ingredients together and see the results of those actions. It is
truly new to toddlers to see the bread dough start off as a small sticky, mass
at the bottom of the pan and come out of the oven firm and sticking out above
the bread pan.
Exhibit curiosity about the
world around them, in this case their home.
Talk or hear adults talk about
the process of cooking.
Toddlers and twos learn about
Literacy as they:
Hear and practice new words.
See the adult follow a recipe.
Watch adults use a visual aid
with drawings or photos of each step in the recipe. (Adults can create these in
advance.)
Health & Safety Tips
Know your child and prepare your child in advance about what is going to happen.
If your child tends to lunge into new materials and ask questions later, make
sure that any of the unsafe materials are out of reach. Tell your child before
bringing a dangerous object (for example, a knife) out what is going to happen.
For example, “Mommy is going to use a knife now. I need you to put your hands
behind your back while I make a cut in this carrot.”
Start simple. The first
cooking experiences that you plan for your child should be simple and extremely
safe ones. It is often a good idea to start with non-cook recipes until your
child is accustomed to following your simple rules. A simple fruit salad in
which your child dumps precut fruit out of smaller containers into a large bowl
and then stirs is an example of a simple, easy place to start with cooking
experiences.
Pick a good time. You
want to pick a time of day when your child is most likely to follow
instructions. You also want to pick a time of day when your patience is at a
maximum. The end of your workday when you’re tired and your child is bouncing
off the walls is rarely a good time to cook.
Prepare materials in
advance. Have all of your materials readily available before your child
joins you. Remember, if your child is required to wait for you to gather
materials, s/he at best will be squirming and at worst will begin getting into
materials that are unsafe. Pulling the flour, shortening, and other ingredients
out of the cupboard before starting that bread recipe will make the experience
smoother for you and your child.
Model appropriate cooking
techniques. Demonstrate how to tear lettuce. Demonstrate how to handle a
knife with respect so that later when your child is old enough to use it s/he
has seen you using caution. If you’re using heat, don’t cut corners with
potholders and other safety techniques in front of your child. Go overboard with
your own safety precautions and talk about what you’re doing and why. “Daddy is
using a potholder because the cookie sheet is hot from being in the oven.”
Wash your hands. Wash
your hands and your child’s hands before starting the project and throughout the
process as appropriate. Hand washing is the single most effective technique for
stopping the spread of disease.
Be prepared to cancel the
project. If things are not going well, stop. If your child is not enjoying
the experience, if you’re bickering or if your child continuously reaches for
the knife or the hot pot after being cautioned, put everything away.
Click here to find several simple recipes.
©Copyright,
2004 Timothy R. Graves. All Rights Reserved. Permission to
reproduce for use with parents and families of young children is granted
provided no financial gain is involved and this copyright notice is included. Mr.
Graves would appreciate any feedback and knowing how and when you use this
document. Please let him know by writing Training Wheels for Early Childhood
Education at 1981 Decatur Avenue Wheeling, WV 26003 or sending an e-mail to
timgraves@trainingwheels4ece.com. Additional articles and handouts can be found
at www.trainingwheels4ece.com
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