Cooking with Kids: What Age Should They Start?
What Age Should Your Child Start Cooking?
AOL
They've shown some interest at all the hullabaloo going on at the counter, but letting your child join in the fun depends on their age.
Teaching kids to learn to cook will introduce them to new flavors and think healthy from a young age. But when is the appropriate time to let them stir and when can you give them free rein on peeling carrots?
"We work with kids as young as 2, and frankly some kids have started even at 18 or 20 months with the right temperament and sitting with their parent," says Elena Marre, the owner of The Kids' Table in Chicago.
At an early age, children must be supervised by their parents while doing basic kitchen tasks, like pouring, sifting and stirring.
"All those kinds of things they enjoy so much in the sandbox can also be done in the kitchen with flour, whatever's being prepared," says Lori Nagel, the director of curriculum development for Young Chefs Academy. "As long as their fine motor skills are up to the point of whatever it is that they're working with, and they can safely maneuver it, then they can do just about anything."
Read the rest of the story below.
Cooking at Any Age
by Sara Bonisteel
Simple Tasks, Big Rewards
Kids as young as 2 can start tearing off the leaves from ears of corn, but it will take the wisdom and motor skills that come with a few more years of age to be able to pull the strands of silk out from the kernels.
Oven Under Supervision
Parents who feel their children are ready for the heat of the oven should supervise their child and make certain that they use oven mitts and keep a distance from the hot door. Safe Kids USA recommends that only children above the age of 13 use the oven.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Pipe Dreams
As long as your child has the motor skills to be able to operate a tube of frosting (and you don't mind some creative off the cake work), they can go straight for the cake. Just don't let their creation end up on Cake Wrecks.
Cassandra Hubbart, AOL
Liquid Fun
Toddlers can help with big kids tasks like pouring liquid into a mixing bowl. As they age, parents can have the children do the measuring themselves.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Spatula, Splatula
By age 3, toddlers can use small spatulas to help out with basic kitchen tasks. Let them start with play food and then move on to letting them help you stir. Save the stove top until you deem them mature enough to do so under supervision. a href="http://www.usa.safekids.org" target="_blank">Safe Kids USA recommends that only children above the age of 13 use the stove.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Peel Appeal
Kids as young as 3 can start using a peeler -- provided they're under parental supervision. Make sure they use a small one designed for kids and push the peeler away from the body.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Stir It Up
Be it the sandbox or the kitchen counter, stirring is lots of fun for kids. Get them started early by measuring out the ingredients for them. As they grow up, they can learn to measure out the ingredients themselves. If you're worried about a mess, use a drop cloth in the kitchen.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Stove Top Carefully
ave the stove top until you deem them mature enough to do so under supervision. a href="http://www.usa.safekids.org" target="_blank">Safe Kids USA recommends that only children above the age of 13 use the stove. Even then, be sure they're supervised.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Grater With Care
It can be fun to shred cheese but start small using a garlic grater. It's small enough for young hands to manipulate. But be sure to supervise so your young one's fingers remain safe.
Jolie Novak, AOL
Follow the Recipe
They'll need to learn how to read before kids can start tackling the all-important kitchen recipe, but you can help them learn early by voicing out recipes. They'll soon learn that a couple eggs are needed for an omelet and two slices of bread plus cheese are necessary for a grilled cheese.
Cassandra Hubbart, AOL
Motor skills improve with age. Children at age 2 work as if they have mittens on, so they can clean vegetables with brushes and tear or snap foods, according to the University of Illinois Extension Family Nutrition Program.
At 3, kids can wrap foil around food, wrap dough around fillings, put dough in pans, pour from pitchers, spread foods with spatulas and shake jars of food, the program says.
At 4, they have the motor skills to use a roller, mash foods and peel eggs, oranges and corn. By 5, they can move on to measuring ingredients, cut soft food, grate and use a whisk.
"The older they get, the more independently they work, the more thorough the job they can do," Marre says, adding "the task is kind of the same, but their level of independence is growing as they grow and understand the process."
So while a 2-year-old might dump an ingredient measured by the parent into a bowl, the 3-year-old will measure and level it with parental supervision and the 5-year-old can follow a parent's directions to get an empty scoop, measure and level the ingredient and then put it in the bowl.
These interactions may slow down the cooking process, but they ramp up the fun for kids.
"Half the fun of it for the young kid is that they're there engaged with the parent, which is great because it's building a great bond between that parent and that child," Nagel says.
If you decide to get your child into the kitchen, pick smaller gadgets which they can more easily maneuver.
At the Kids' Table, Marre uses smaller rolling pins, bowls and whisks and uses garlic or ginger graters for cheese, avocado mashers for potatoes and peelers that fit in the young chefs' hands.
As children learn to read, they can then move on to simple recipes and stove-top etiquette. Hold off on knife skills until they reach the teen years.
Letting your young chef learn to cook has a surprising benefit -- curbing picky eating.
"It helps to broaden kids palates and to make them more adventurous because you're shifting the focus from 'You need to eat this' to 'Oh how fun, we're making something exciting together,'" Marre says.
And by all means, allow them to experiment.
"My younger son puts cinnamon on his pasta," Marre says. "That sounds kind of silly but that's his special little dish. He puts olive oil cinnamon, salt and cracked black pepper on his pasta, and to him, he takes ownership over that because he created something."
Recent Comments
WILDWESTBUNCH 09:50:36 AM Oct 03 2009
Everyone should be teaching our kids the basics. I have 3 grand children and we started our own garden this year to show them how things grow and then things we can mke with what we bounty, tomatoes become tomato sauce that we use on one of there favorites PIZZA. Since they are all under the age of 3 I can't wait for to show them my sister's dairy farm for cow's milk, pig's bacon and chicken egg's, We also bake and make our own lunchables using cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. I was raised old school but current work with 60 women and 75% don't know how to cook unless it pre-packaged or frozen. How sad and we wonder why kids today are over weight before they get started. Keep up the good work.
Bertnred 08:19:09 PM May 25 2009
WITH A DAD SICK WITH CANCER AND 3 CHILDREN 29 MONTHS APART AND ONE CHILDNEEDING SURGERY , ONE BEING AN ASTHMATIC, AND ONE BEING A TODDLER WITHTYPE 1 DIABETES MEALS WERE VERY CAREFULLY PREPARED TO MEET THEIR DAILYREQUIREMENTS JUST AS MEDICATION WAS CAREFULLY MEASURERD. RATHER THANBEING A CHORE IT BECAME A FUN AND CREATIVE WAY TO LEARN TO MEASURE, MIX,AND TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT THEY CREATED. THINGS DAD LOVED, LIKE FISH, ANDITALIAN DISHES SOME OF WHICH THE CHILDREN DID NOT ENJOY EATING THEY LEARNED TO PREPPARE . THEY LEARNED TO BAKE TOO. IT WAS SOMETHING ALL MY CHILDRENSTILL ENJOY AND DO WELL.
Jeanwhit13 01:09:48 PM Apr 17 2009
The comments about teaching American adults to cook, is alittle off! I have 3 grown children from ages 31-18 two boys and 1 girl. All are great cooks, so are most of thier friends. It is all in the way they started cooking that makes this article so great. Cooking is something everyone should learn at home.
Jeanwhit13 01:05:34 PM Apr 17 2009
Thank you for this article. My daughter has given me three beautiful granddaughters, and even though I taught her how to cook when she was just 5yrs. old she didn't want to start her girls until they are older (about 10), now thanks to this article she is re-thinking it.
Campbelltessa 07:38:56 PM Apr 15 2009
what an awesome little article! this is my first time to this site and i am IN LOVE with it... thanks so much for the tips, i am a mother of three BOYS and i love to bake... this puts into perspective what i've been trying to figure out the last 6 months... thanks again !!tessa in florida
Melodysix 02:55:20 PM Apr 12 2009
I TEACH KIDS TO COOK HEALTHY AND GREEN,,,,I WAS AT THE PSEG GREEN FEST LAST WEEK END IN NEW JERSEY.... AND THE CHILDREN LOVED ALL THE FOODAND WERE QUITE INTERESTED IN COOKING, WE DO COOKING BIRTHDAY PARTYS AND THE KIDS AND MOTHERSALIKE HAVE A BALL...CHEF MELODY/ OWNER KIDS GREEN KITCHEN MORRISTOWN NJ
