Teaching Your Child to Cook

You can start teaching your children to cook as soon as they are old enough to be curious and want to help in the kitchen. Young children can start learning by getting things like spoons or spatulas for you. If you have things in the lower cabinets that are light weight, they can get those items for you. Not only will they be helping you, but they will also be learning about the way things work in the kitchen.

As a child gets older, they can start helping you cook. If they are old enough to read, you might want to start them with the microwave. Have them read directions and put something in the microwave and start it. Be sure you are watching so it is done correctly and you need to remove the item from the microwave so they don't burn themselves.

Once they have an understanding of numbers, get out your measuring cups and let them help you measure ingredients. You can teach them about the different sizes of cups and measuring spoons while doing so. If you purchase or put aside cooking utensils just for the children, they will be more interested in helping you.

You also need to teach them that cleaning up is just as big of a part of cooking at the preparation and cooking of the food is. Let them help you with cleaning up throughout the lesson and the final clean up after the cooking is done. Let the child taste what they are doing and then let them serve it to others and they will feel like they have accomplished something. This will make them more likely to want to do it again.