Cooking with kids is a beautiful gift! That’s because cooking and baking with your children offers many benefits. Kids will love cooking family meals and spending valuable time together. Cooking and baking with kids is also easy to add to your routine with the right tools and kid friendly recipes
Benefits of Cooking and Baking with Kids
Below, learn 7 benefits of cooking and baking with kids:
1. When Kids Cook, They Eat Better
Did you know that kids who help with food preparation are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables? That’s a great benefit of cooking with kids!
If your child refuses to try vegetables, try having them help out in the kitchen. However, do remember to be patient! Kids may need to try a food up to 10 timesbefore accepting it.
2. Cooking with Kids Helps Them Become More Responsible Adults
Another benefit of cooking and baking with kids is that they’ll grow up into more responsible and successful adults. Research shows that children who participate in chores such as cooking become more successful young adults.
3. Cooking and Baking with Kids Build Fine Motor Skills
When cooking and baking, children learn how to stir, chop, and pour. These are especially important skills. They use muscles that young children will later use when they write, color, and perform other academic tasks.
Kids cooking can build children's fine motor skills and hand strength. For example, when learning to cut with a wooden knife, children must grip the knife and make precise movements.
4. Cooking and Baking with Kids Increases Independence
When children know how to prepare basic snacks like crackers and cheese, a fruit salad, or similar items, children build independence. Not only will it save you time (parenting win!), but independence is an important goal of childhood. Children need to gain life skills, including cooking, to grow into capable adults.
5. Baking and Cooking with Kids Builds Self Confidence
Children who contribute to the family boost their self-esteem. When kids are cooking, they also build confidence in the kitchen.
You can also help boost your child's self-esteem by encouraging them. For example, your child might slice a cucumber and arrange it on a plate for everyone. You can say, "Thanks for preparing this cucumber for us!” Your child will naturally feel proud of their contribution to the family meal.
6. Kids Learn Math While Cooking and Baking
When cooking, you can measure and count ingredients as you go. This works especially well with baking recipes. For example, count out the biscuits as you place them on the tray. Or, count the cups of flour as you add them to the dough.
Encourage older kids to read cookbooks and help convert recipes to 1/2 recipes or double recipes. There are many simple recipes for kids that make it easier to double or triple recipes.
7. Kids Cooking Helps Build Concentration
For very young children, one of the important benefits of cooking with kids is that it builds concentration. Young children need to work on building their concentration muscles to succeed at school! Cooking is one area where children can work on this muscle.
Whether your child is shaping dough, following entire kid friendly recipes, or cutting up ingredients, they’ll have to concentrate for ten minutes or more. You can slowly build your child’s concentration muscles by offering them more and more difficult or lengthy child-friendly kitchen activities.
There are so many benefits of cooking and baking with kids!
Cooking and Baking with Kids Is Worth the Effort
It takes some effort to get your kids used to working in the kitchen. Yet, it's well worth the investment in time. Over time, your child will build important skills and confidence that will serve them their whole lives.
So, get out your aprons, kitchen helper tower, child-friendly knife, and start cooking with your child! You won’t regret it.
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