From the time your child is a toddler, there is usually a real interest in helping in the kitchen. Both boys and girls love to “cook”.
There are so many jobs your little one can’t help with in the kitchen, they love it when you can come up with chores they can do. Not only is this a wonderful way to bond with your child, it’s also a great way to teach the basics they will carry throughout their lives.
You can let your little one wipe off the counter top and wash his hands before you let him roll out dough with a rolling pin and explain that germs we can’t see can live on counter tops and on our hands so it’s very important to wash them off before we touch food because those germs can make us sick. It’s also a great way of reiterating why we wash our hands before eating and your child will really start to understand what all the fuss about clean hands was about.
When you’re making an afternoon snack such as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or even cheese and crackers with fruit let your child help. Getting out the bread and putting it up, spreading peanut butter or using the butter knife and “cutting” the sandwich in either triangles or squares (whichever he likes best) are all ways your little one can help.
You can also get your little one a pretend play cooking set of his own and even set him a place in the corner of your kitchen so he can “cook” right along with you. Add in some pretend food items and you’ll see your good kitchen lessons in action, especially when your child reminds his teddy bear, “to wash his hands before eating”.
