logo
BabySparks
logo
  • What is BabySparks?
  • The Science
  • Childcare Providers
  • Learning Center
  • Get BabySparks
  • en
    • es
Prev
Tips for stopping tantrums 0
Toddler Tantrums: How to Manage Them
29 October 2019
Next
Red flags for problematic tantrums 0
Toddler Tantrums: When Tantrums are More Than Just Tantrums
30 October 2019
Cognitive
Cooking with Your Toddler
30 October, 2019 by BabySparks in Cognitive

Cooking with toddlersWhen you imagine cooking with your toddler, you might envision spilled ingredients, overly-salted soup, and a child with sauce all over his clothes. We get it, inviting your clumsy toddler into the kitchen can seem daunting! But here’s the thing: The benefits of pulling a step stool up to the counter and handing your little one a spoon run far and wide, from teaching early math to building risk-management skills, and even reducing picky eating.

Highlights: 

  • While it may seem like a messy task, cooking with your toddler provides a ton of benefits and can even reduce picky eating.
  • Cooking with toddlers can help them: 
    • Learn math, science, and language skills.
    • Experiment with their senses.
    • Feel more confident. 
    • Become more adventurous eaters. 
    • Build risk management skills. 
    • Boost creativity. 
  • Common cooking tasks for toddlers include washing fruits and vegetables, tearing lettuce, stirring batter, and sprinkling herbs and spices. 
  • Check out the BabySparks program for self-care and sensory activities that involve exploring the world of food with your toddler! 

Let’s take a closer look:

Benefits of Cooking with Toddlers

Cooking with your toddler can help him:

  • Learn math, science, and language skills. For example: Measuring flour, naming food groups, counting how many eggs you need for a recipe, and learning how temperature affects the food.
  • Experiment with his senses. Toddlers are naturally curious! Invite him into the kitchen to touch the pizza dough, smell different herbs and spices, feel if a tomato is ripe enough, or watch how a crust turns golden brown in the oven. Instead of only using taste to decide if he likes a certain type of food, he can use all of his senses.
  • Feel more confident. Teaching your child how to cook boosts his developing independence. Plus, toddlers love to show off! Give him the ingredients to make his own pizza, sandwich, or salad and sit back and watch how he suddenly becomes a master chef.
  • Become a more adventurous eater. Toddlers are much more likely to eat something new if they’re involved in cooking the meal, rather than having the food prepared and handed to them. Giving him a sense of ownership over food prep can increase his willingness to try it.
  • Build his risk-management skills. Research shows that allowing toddlers to engage in supervised risk-based activities (stirring a hot pot of soup or using scissors or a dull knife) helps them learn to navigate their environments and use their bodies safely. However, guidance should always come first in the kitchen. It’s important to take his age, developmental level, and abilities into consideration when cooking together. For example, he may be ready to use an oven mitt to take a hot potato out of the oven, but not ready to use scissors to cut the ends of green beans. Throughout each cooking session, have a safety discussion first. Slowly introduce new tools, elements, and how to safely turn appliances on and off. Remind him that cooking is an activity to do together and he should never do it alone.
  • Boost his creativity. Cooking is indeed an art! Allowing him to make his own delicious creation is a great form of self-expression.

Common Cooking Tasks for Toddlers

Be sure to explore the self-care and sensory activities in our BabySparks development program for ideas about exploring foods with your child and encouraging him to help before, during, and after meals. Also consider these common tasks that toddlers can do in the kitchen:

  • Wash fruit or vegetables
  • Tear lettuce
  • Sprinkle herbs and spices
  • Stir batter
  • Use a pastry brush to spread oil or butter
  • Use cookie-cutters
  • Mash potatoes, stuff a pepper, add ingredients onto a pizza, or any other task that involves getting his hands messy!

Of course, other activities such as setting a table, placing bowls in the dishwasher, or throwing away dirty napkins after dinner are also great ways to make him feel helpful. Don’t hesitate to assign him a chore before or after family meals!

 

0 Comments
  • independence
  • language
  • picky eating
  • risky play
  • sensory
  • toddler
1 Like!
Share
BabySparks

Recent comments

    Tags

    baby child cognitive feeding fine motor gross motor health language language skills milestones parenting sensory social-emotional speech toddler
    ABOUT US
    THE TEAM
    TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY
    support@babysparks.com
    FacebookInstagramPinterestTwitter
    Copyright © 2020 BabySparks LLC. All rights reserved
    logo
    X
    GET BABYSPARKS
    Step 2 of 2
    ACTIVITY PACKAGE:
    (All Prices in USD)

    Form of Payment

    Monthly: $1.25 per month/per child
    Annually: $12.00 per year/per child (20% discount)

    Form of Payment

    Monthly: $2.25 per month/per child
    Annually: $21.50 per year/per child (20% discount)

    Form of Payment

    Monthly: $5.00 per month/per child
    Annually: $45.00 per year/per child (25% discount)

    Number of children:

    x per child

    Total Amount

    SELECT YOUR METHOD OF PAYMENT
    * Required field
    Buy now BS

    BabySparks Premium Gives You…

    Access to 1,300+ development activities & milestones

    An expert-created program to support the development of children under your care

    Tools to increase family engagement, invite each family to use the program at home

    Ability to track each child's progress in real-time (and share it with his/her family)

    Add unlimited children, caregivers and locations to your account

    Manage and track progress across your organization through our desktop dashboard

    Cancel your subscription at any time

    By clicking on the button below, you agree to our Terms of Service & privacy policy.
    X
    EDIT YOUR ACCOUNT
    Your account
    Change your password
    X
    EDIT YOUR METHOD OF PAYMENT
    Update payment method
    * Required field
    Buy now BS
    By clicking on the button below, you agree to our Terms of Service & privacy policy.
    X
    UPDATE YOUR PACKAGE
    Your Activity Package
    (All Prices in USD)

    1 Month

    $ 3 99

    per month

    1 Year

    $ 23 99

    per year

    Update your package at any time
    (All Prices in USD)
    Pay as you go

    1 Month

    $ 3 99

    per month

    50% Discount

    1 Year

    $ 23 99

    per year

    60% Discount

    Lifetime

    $ 39 99

    one time

    How does it work?

    You can change your activity package at any time.

    The change will take place at the end of your current subscription period.

    You will only be charged the new rate once the change takes place.

    Cancel Activity Package
    X
    LOGIN BABYSPARKS

    Forgot your password?

    X
    PASSWORD RESET
    X
    RESET PASSWORD
    X
    GET BABYSPARKS
    Step 1 of 2
    Create Your Account

    Already Have an Account? Login

    X
    GET BABYSPARKS
    Step 1 of 2
    Create Your Account

    Already Have an Account? Login

    X
    GET BABYSPARKS
    Step 2 of 2
    Logged in as: (Not me)
    Select Your Activity Package
    (All Prices in USD)
    Pay as you go

    1 Month

    $ 3 99

    per month

    YOUR OFFER

    $ 2 99

    50% Discount

    1 Year

    $ 1 99

    per month

    Paid Annually: $23.99
    YOUR OFFER

    $ 2 99

    60% Discount

    Lifetime

    $ 39 99

    one time

    YOUR OFFER

    $ 2 99

    BabySparks Premium Gives You…

    Access to 1,300+ development activities & milestones

    An expert-created program to support your child’s development

    Weekly development reports summarize progress

    Browse activities for any situation

    Expert-written articles about development

    Sync up to 5 devices (add family and caregivers)

    Add up to 5 babies to your account

    Cancel your susbcription at any time

    * Required field
    Buy now BS
    By clicking on the button below, you agree to our Terms of Service & privacy policy.