Hello again, future cooks young and old. Today's post will reflect less on lessons and recipes today and more on the human aspect of cooking; And by human, I mean kids! I have two younger siblings and I can make the educated guess that most of you reading this post have younger siblings or kids.
The hardest parts about bringing kids into the kitchen are deciding what to teach them and how to keep them safe working with heavy and sharp objects as well as fire and smoke.
Today will be a reflective course, describing the jobs and tasks you should assign kids as well as how to get them into the spirit of helping out mom, dad, grandma, or their siblings whilst in the kitchen.
A large portion of the information comes from two helpful blog posts from Bon Appetit Magazine and BBC Good Foods, both will be linked down below if you wish to explore further!
Let's begin with the positive outcomes of teaching young ones to cook. Teaching your kids and younger siblings poses sets of challenges suited especially for each child. Cooking instills accomplishment, pride of work, and a sense of creativity that fuels a growing child's imagination. On a more scientific note, cooking exercises hand-on skills, environmental awareness, basic mathematical practice (fractions and addition) and multi-tasking skills. In addition, teaching kids to cook provides them with a lifelong skill of being able to prepare their own meals, a skill very beneficial during their college and independent years (20s and beyond).
While kids are learning in the kitchen, keep in mind that they are learning and that a child's mind requires both healthy doses of independence and safety. A child will always seek to get their hands dirty which might not be the most useful to making Roast Chicken but is inevitable and should be embraced until he/she has grown enough to start handling small tasks around the kitchen.
Once they do grow of age to begin handling small tasks, make sure to let them learn at their own pace and with as much independence as safely possible. Children need to try new things and build confidence in their own abilities and being told constantly no and to not touch certain objects will make them feel even less comfortable helping make meals. Allow them to help, even if it doesn't seem to be driving the train forward, because they will at least come to associate the kitchen as being a fun learning environment.
Now comes the more analytical portion of the post, what specifically to teach kids. What they learn should reflect their age group and the skills one learns at such age. For example, a child of about two or three would learn more from interactivity and exploration of the kitchen than trying to teach it knife or organizational skills as it's mind hasn't developed enough to take on such skills. Below is an very simple breakdown of age groups and the skills they should learn.
Ages 3 and under (toddlers):
-At this point in their lives, toddlers cannot do much in terms of productivity in the kitchen but they are always welcome inside so as to start familiarizing themselves with the contents and layout of the kitchens. Names
- Begin with mashing, mixing, and topping ingredients. These tasks aren't very difficult and prove quite pleasing to small children
- AT ALL COSTS, avoid fire, knives, and heavy objects (this should go without saying to be honest)
Ages 3-5:
-At this point in their development, children are beginning to understand consequences and basic math. Shapes and numbers are beginning to become more commonplace and tasks of the kitchen should begin to reflect as much.
- Measuring, weighing, and learning to read recipes are important skills to learn as early as possible
- Remember to still have fun with your hands; activities such as kneading, flattening, and straining are important and always exciting activities
Ages 5-7:
-By this point in a kid's life, they are beginning the first steps in a basic education and higher level thinking, organization, and complex thinking and reasoning become visible.
- Kids are finally old enough to begin learning basic knife skills such as chopping, crushing and slicing (with supervision of course)
- Organizational skills such as sorting, instructional reading, table-setting, and arrangement
Ages 8-11 (Older-Kids):By now, a child has come of age to begin learning about the more complex instruction of heating food and using machinery around the kitchen. Fire will become a new challenge taken with small steps and children will seek independence from their parents's watchful eyes.
- Heating food in pans, the oven, and toaster will become commonplace as well as using knives and machinery such as can-openers, mixers, blenders, crock-pots, and toasters.
- Planning meals and passing commentary and criticism will be more self-evident
Ages 11+ (Pre-Teens):
- Can begin to fully cook for themselves and will begin to suggest advanced and complex meal plans.
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