The kitchen, like martial arts or girl scouts, offers many opportunities to teach kids different techniques and disciplines. These techniques help to develop a child’s mind and both self and spatial awareness. Teaching kids different techniques in the kitchen builds more than just one aspect of their being, but instead everything from the inside out. Let’s take a look at a couple of techniques and how they help to develop the child.

Knife Skills

Wielding a knife requires a set of skills all on its own, but being in complete control of the blade has a feeling like none other. Teaching a child at an early age, how to respect a sharp edge, gives them the understanding of how power and authority work. Demonstrating how a simple flick of the wrist can completely demolish a potato or watermelon is both amazing and awe-inspiring to a child.

But understanding how to control that power and manipulate it for a good cause is a lesson that is not taught too often in life. Many times people go around abusing power with reckless abandon and, unlike the once-popular comic books; the good guys don’t always win. These techniques teach self-control and how to use the power for good.

Cooking Styles

Teaching different cooking styles is equivalent to giving a child a box of 100 crayons. With this many different colors and combinations to use, creativity begins to flourish. The same goes with different cooking styles. Learning the simple differences between wet heat, dry heat and combination heat, the child can begin to play with what works best in each situation.

By providing a number of different ways to explore the actual cooking process, children begin to work through the creative process. You can almost see it as they try to decide what needs to be added first when sautéing vegetables or if a turkey should be boiled or baked in order to get that signature crispy skin. Letting a kid explore is one of the greatest ways to build their minds.

Clean Up

While the two ideas above deal with being in the present and working with what you have, cleaning up teaches an important aspect of looking ahead. By looking forward and planning ahead, many of the accidents and other mishaps can be prevented. By keeping your mind on what you are doing and will have to do, the child will learn to think about what needs to happen. For instance, if you are not cleaning as you go, you will eventually run out of counter space to prepare food.

Cleanliness also aids with organization skills, making it important to know where everything is located at all times and easy to get to. By keeping your area clean, you will not accidentally scald the milk because you were digging around for the cornstarch.

By learning the power of properly wielding a knife, the creativity of food preparation and the foresight of cleanliness, children will gather many life-lessons from techniques they learn in the kitchen. So get up, grab a cutting board and a whisk and start explaining what you are trying to accomplish every time you make dinner for your family.

Sometimes it is difficult to get kids interested in the workings of a kitchen. While we have already discussed why it is important, let’s take a look at how we can excite them enough to get started.

Let Them Experiment

Kids love to try new things and the kitchen is a great place to do it. It is easy to clean up if there is a mess and with the proper instruction on safety, the kitchen can be a great place to get creative. Of course, some experiments fail, but no matter what happens, we, as adults, have the open door to discuss what happened and why it happened.

Kids get excited when they get to play around and experimenting in the kitchen is just that. The once elusive domain is now within reach and not only that, they get to have fun and play around. If you want to get kids fired up, give them the ability to play in the one area they were previously banned from entering.

Let Them Ask Questions

Questions are a great tool to spark a kid’s interest. Kids ask questions because they want to know and understand how things work and why they do what they do. It is important to field all of the questions you can when teaching a child to cook. It is also fun for the adult, even if they don’t know the answer, to sit down with a child, find the answer and talk about what they found out.

Questions lead to more questions and bonds become tighter. Making room in the kitchen to stop and have a discussion will keep a child interested and will help them develop critical thinking skills for later in life. Learning how to ask the right question is also an important part of growing up. For instance, there is a big difference in the answer to “Where does milk come from” and “How do we get our milk.”

Another great way to keep the interest flowing is to ask a question back. For instance, in the “Where does milk come from” question above, ask them where they think it comes from. This is a great tool to unpack and straighten out any wrong information they might have received in the past.

Let Them Have Room to Do It on Their Own

Ok, this step will probably make some adults extremely nervous. Yes, you read correctly, let them have room to do it on their own. Let the child try their hand at certain tasks and then ask you for help if needed. This is a great way to spark interest because they get to put their hands on things sooner.

Kids love to try new things, especially when there are not a bunch of rules and regulations that come before they get to play. Let your kids discover that there has to be an easier way to stir the cake mix than with a fork and that pouring the flour slowly will keep it from puffing up their noses.

It is easy to get kids interested in cooking when they have some room to experiment, ask questions and try their hand at something new. The best way to keep a child interested is to get in the kitchen with them and learn to relax a little and have fun. So get up, grab your kids and get into the kitchen to kick-start the fun.

Ask any adult if a kid should be in the kitchen and you will probably get a bewildered look as if they were trying to say “why would I poke my eye out with a wooden spoon?” Many people think the kitchen is a dangerous place, and they have every right to believe so. What they don’t know is that the kitchen is probably one of the only rooms in the house that can teach as many lessons as a first-grade classroom.

Safety

Kitchens are dangerous, which is exactly why every kid needs to be allowed in the kitchen whenever they please. With great trust comes great responsibility. By allowing your kids in the kitchen, especially with you, they start to develop a sense of self-confidence knowing that an adult puts their trust in them.

Not only does the kitchen offer chances to teach knife safety, fire safety and even food safety, it also gives the child the chance to work on identification. For younger kids, learning to identify different items and understanding the proper words helps to build vocabularies. For instance, you could work through the kitchen, identifying all of the parts of the appliances, then move into utensils and other gadgets and finally finish with the styles of cooking. Tens of thousands of words live in the kitchen and they can come alive in the hands of a cooking child.

Creativity

Combine biology, chemistry and physics and you have the very basic techniques in the kitchen. Combining different ingredients and learning how they work together to form different flavor profiles is a great way to interest children in how things work. Identifying different parts of the protein you are working with is great for learning how muscles work together; think extending and retracting the wing of a chicken.

Watching how a knife slides across a cutting board and learning how levers work when whisking without your arm getting tired. Many people don’t take the time to stop and realize what they are doing in a kitchen and actually turn everyday tasks, such as cooking the family dinner, into teaching lessons for their ever-curious children.

Healthy

Kids in the kitchen also get the chance to practice health, not only with food preparation and hand washing, but they also learn about healthy eating. Nine times out of ten, if a kid has the chance to prepare their own food, they will eat it, no matter what is inside. Children, who would not touch broccoli with a ten-foot pole, suddenly seem to like the chicken and broccoli Alfredo they helped make. The ones who scrunched their nose at bell peppers seemed to love the pizza they created with different colors all over.

Kids belong in the kitchen, not only because they can learn about safety and health while developing their creative side, but also so they can be self-dependent one day. Teaching a kid to cook helps to slow down the obesity epidemic that is sweeping the country, and wouldn’t it feel good to know that you passed down the tradition of cooking big meals for your family?

It is important for kids to get in the kitchen and learn to cook. Cooking not only builds confidence and prepares a kid for difficult life situations, but it also teaches them to think on their feet. It also develops the same type of discipline as any form of sports or martial arts. Let’s take a look at the top ten reasons for kids to get dirty in the kitchen.

1. Builds confidence ? Remember when you first learned a new skill? It was great; you felt on top of the world knowing that you could do something all by yourself. Cooking is the same way for kids; it is a giant confidence boost for them.

2. Prepares for life ? When life gives you lemons, make chicken piccata. Learning to cook helps kids prepare for other life lessons such as organization and following directions. While learning to cook is not only following recipes, you have to start somewhere.

3. Sparks creativity ? What kind of new creations will your kids come up with in the kitchen? Maybe they will develop the new family favorite meal. Between all of the different sights, sounds and flavors, all of the senses become aware in the kitchen. Creativity begins to flourish and the imagination starts to think beyond the typical, ordinary cuisine.

4. Develops discipline ? Learning to cook teaches the discipline of following instructions and builds the mind. When a kid is in the kitchen, they become the master of their domain and learn to respect everything around them.

5. Patience – Patience is a soufflé, just ask any chef. If your child needs to work on patience, it is important to get them into the kitchen. All good things come to those who wait. Let them experiment with a cake that is not fully baked or garlic that is not completely roasted, then explain the importance of being patient and show them how the finished product is so much better.

6. Science ? If you ever get the chance to watch Alton Brown in action, you will be amazed at the amount of science that goes into cooking. Help your children prepare for school by teaching them what yeast does to dough and why toast cannot ever be turned back into bread.

7. They ask questions ? Questions are an integral part of developing a child’s mind. Letting them ask questions and then figuring out the answers together will build the base for learning in years to come.

8. Expands pallet ? Kids with narrow minds develop narrow habits. Letting your child help with the cooking will cause them to expand their pallet and try new things. The act of trying new things will help them out later in life when they are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do.

9. Passes down or builds new traditions ? If your family has traditions, the kitchen is a great place to begin to pass them down. Due to the close proximity, there is plenty of time to talk and explain why things are done certain ways. Also, who wouldn’t want great-grandma’s chocolate cookie recipe?

10. Keeps family history ? Explaining why the pineapple upside down cake was made with the pineapple juice due to the sugar rations during the war is a great way to flesh out your family history. So many families in the old days, told stories and built legends in the kitchen, why not try it yourself?

There are many reasons why it is important to get your children in the kitchen. These ten reasons alone should have you grabbing your children and pulling them in close to prepare the family meal. Get out the little blue cup that doubled as your grandma’s measuring cup and begin explaining what things are, why they work and who started these crazy traditions anyway.

There are many dangerous things looming in the kitchen, but that should not be a deterrent for getting kids actively preparing meals. As a matter of fact, those dangerous things are exactly what kids need to be exposed to, in time. While teaching children the rules of the kitchen and letting them develop their sense of surrounding, safety should always be on the forefront of your mind.

Know Age Appropriate Activities

While it is important to get kids into the kitchen, there are some activities that are for older kids. Just like the current board games, children who are old enough to understand what is going on should only do certain activities. These age groups may vary for different children based on experience, but here is a basic guideline for progression.

2-3 years old ? Simple mixing skills using a spoon, whisk or hands, gathering supplies from the refrigerator and pantry, opening packaging and assisting with meal planning.
3-5 years old ? Cracking eggs, simple heating instruction (learning what types of heat and how much are appropriate for different foods), basic chopping skills using nylon or plastic, blunt-tip knife, non-heated food prep and combining ingredients.
5-9 years old ? Advanced cutting techniques, parent-assisted cooking with heat and simple meal preparation (such as pancakes, pasta or grilled cheese).
9+ years old ? By this time, children should be fully functional and know their way around the kitchen and how to use various tools. At this point, your sous-chef should be fully functional.

Teach Proper Skills

Just like with lifting weights, learning to cook should only be done progressively by learning the basics and building on them. Just imagine how you would fare if you jumped right in and tried to cook a soufflé. My guess is it would probably end up as flat as a crepe.

Learning basic skills correctly the first time will save much time and energy later in life when more complicated skills are stacked on. For instance, it would be best to learn how to rough chop before you learned how to dice; and dice before you learn how to julienne. Crawling, then walking we learn everything in life by progressions, so why not keep the same mentality in the kitchen?

Keep Health in Mind

Health is an important aspect of safety in the kitchen. Without keeping health in mind, the kitchen can become a nightmare of a place. A person can wield substantial power in the kitchen, and looking at a majority of the world’s population, it seems as if health safety is not a priority in many cases.

There are many aspects to safety in the kitchen, ranging from knowing appropriate tasks to keeping a clean ship. Safety should always be top priority when in a kitchen and you should always keep an eye out for potential problem areas and correct them as soon as possible.

Despite the stigma behind kids in the kitchen, teaching kids to cook is a great way to build confidence and strengthen your family bonds. Just look at the Italians and the French. They spend all day in the kitchen with their family and they are probably about as tight as any culture can be. There are some things to consider when introducing kids to the kitchen routines, but doing so can make all of the difference in the world.

Make it fun

Kids are all about fun. Just watch one of them playing outside and you will quickly see that anything can be fun if you just put a little imagination behind it. Today, companies are making it easier than ever to get kids to enjoy kitchen time. With bright colors and tools that are easy to use, kids are starting to take an interest in what they eat every day.

Before you even begin the prep work, sit down with your child and make up a game. Assign different tasks, develop different strategies and get ready to step foot into the biggest play area ever.

Ask kids to use their imagination. For instance, while wading through the jungle of broccoli trees, what kind of exotic species are they looking for? Maybe they are trying to paddle their way out of the Royal Gorge while whipping some eggs or even in a race against time crossing the tight rope of spaghetti while expecting the kitchen timer to ding at any second.

Try new things

Here is a wild idea; let your kids plan dinner. If they want to have hotdogs and yogurt, what kind of recipes can you come up with to accommodate both ingredients? At the grocery store, pick out a new ingredient and make a mock game of Iron Chef of the House. Who can come up with the most creative ideas for how to use the secret ingredient in a dish?

Let your kids put broccoli in the mac and cheese. Who knows; maybe they will begin to enjoy their greens. Giving children the ability to experiment and try new things will broaden their horizons and teach them about how to pair foods. Don’t just stop at the foods though; think about different ways to prepare those foods. For instance, instead of just rolling up a burrito, how about frying it or baking it with cheese on top?

Keep it safe

Anytime a kitchen is involved, safety is always number one. Explain this to your children before beginning and make a game out of this too. See who can safely carry the eggs from the fridge to the kitchen counter. Also, try making a safety patrol, where kids get to point out potential safety places and suggest ways to improve and prevent.

Yes, it may take a little extra planning, but teaching kids to cook is probably one of the most rewarding things a parent can do. Keeping it fun, inspiring creativity and ensuring safety are easy steps for getting kids geared up for the kitchen. So what are you waiting for? Go find the lost treasure buried somewhere in that pile of mashed potatoes.