Luring Kids into the World of the Kitchen
Good eating habits, if taught diligently during the early years of childhood, can continue for a lifetime.
An easy way to help prevent your precious ones from falling into the lifelong trap of unhealthy eating is by exposing them to the world of the kitchen!
For many, it may seem like an uphill climb to engage children in the chaotic world of the kitchen. But, looking at the ease with which the current internet sensation (one-year-old baby) chef Kobe works, cooking indeed seems like a baby’s job!
Pandemic or no pandemic, engaging children in activities that involve the participation of the whole family can help to raise happier and healthier kids. And, that is certainly an excellent reason to get kids to explore the culinary world. After all, what is better than serving a fancy looking yet very nutritious home-cooked meal to your child? Here are a few tips to make kitchen chores fun and exciting for young minds.
The best way to introduce them to cooking is through play (1). Expose children to a variety of textures, smells, and tastes to give them an authentic experience of nature and its produce.
Allow children to express their creativity via cooking. Let them decide upon the unique combination of flavors by giving them ample freedom.
Encourage their culinary explorations, no matter how small it is, to help them become independent and confident cooks.
It has been well proven that children tend to learn better with a hands-on approach (5). And this is the perfect opportunity to teach them some life skills. However, you must assign them age-appropriate tasks.
The kitchen is one of the few places where you will have to adjust your pace of work to meet theirs. It will help to make them comfortable and improve their understanding of the things happening in this ‘new’ culinary world.
A study published in the Journal, Current Developments in Nutrition (4), was conducted to critically evaluate culinary skill interventions for children between 5-12 years. The intervention included cooking classes, gardening classes, tasting sessions, and a visit to a farmer’s market and a restaurant. The study reports that the intervention positively impacted cooking skills, healthy eating practices, food preferences, Body Mass Index, and blood pressure of the participants. Involving kids in the kitchen can help them to build a happier relationship with food and improve their health. Look forward to hearing more yays at mealtime!
Here is a list of tasks you can try during the initial days of introducing your child to the kitchen. Gradually, progress onto more specific tasks suitable for the age of your child.
Pounding the dough
Stirring the batter
Tearing leafy vegetables for salads and other preparations
Mashing the potatoes
Adding the ingredients
Washing and rinsing the veggies
Assembling the ingredients by measuring them appropriately
Shaping cookies using hands or cookie cutter
Squeezing citrus veggies
Cracking, beating, and peeling eggs
Blending the shakes and smoothies
Topping the pizzas and placing vegetables in burgers
Reading out the instructions of the recipe
Simple jobs shared above will help to keep them happily engaged in the kitchen, and who knows, you might be raising a future James Beard Award winner. Fun family activities like these will help them become more health-aware for the rest of their lives. Your kitchen is an excellent learning ground to help children:
Perform better at academics (3). Cooking helps to teach children about the basic concepts of science and mathematics, including measurements, addition, ratio, multiplication, and time.
Instill healthy eating habits right from the childhood years (2). Cooking exposes kids to a variety of food ingredients diversifying their taste palette. Cooking programs (or interventions) may positively influence children’s food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors (6).
Improve listening, and fine motor skills of children. Cooking primarily involves understanding and executing the work correctly by proper hand-eye coordination (1).
Remarkably improve reading skills and vocabulary as children get subtly pushed into the habit of reading (recipes) (2).
Share and cooperate better when working in a group (2). Cooking together as a family provides an opportunity to spend some quality time and forge a bond with your children.
Give children a platform to share their creativity and cook food according to their taste preferences (2). This way, upon reaching adulthood, they will be less reliant on fast-food staples.
Lastly, while working in the kitchen, children learn the importance of safety, reducing waste, hygiene, and cleanliness.
The benefits of introducing children to the culinary world are endless, particularly in creating a more harmonious lifelong relationship with the food!
REFERENCES
Kelsey Stevens. Children learn so much from cooking. https://families.naeyc.org/WOYC/children-learn-so-much-cooking. Accessed June 16, 2020.
20 valuable benefits of cooking with toddlers. http://simpletoddlerrecipes.com/blog/40/20-valuable-benefits-of-cooking-with-toddlers. Accessed June 16, 2020.
Mary L. Gavin, MD. Cooking with preschoolers. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/cooking-preschool.html. Accessed June 16, 2020.
Henna Muzaffar, Jessica J Metcalfe, Barbara Fiese. Narrative Review of Culinary Interventions with Children in Schools to Promote Healthy Eating: Directions for Future Research and Practice. Curr Dev Nutr. 2018 Jun; 2(6): nzy016. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzy016. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6016610/)
Practical work: The benefits, challenges and solutions. https://www.cambridge.org/us/education/blog/practical-work-benefits-challenges-and-solutions#:~:text=Practical%20learning&text=Practical%20work%20can%20in%20fact,relevant%20in%20practical%20science%20activities. Accessed June 19, 2020.
Derek Hersch, Laura Perdue, Teresa Ambroz, Jackie L Boucher. The Impact of Cooking Classes on Food-Related Preferences, Attitudes, and Behaviors of School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review of the Evidence, 2003-2014. Prev Chronic Dis. 2014 Nov 6;11:E193. doi: 10.5888/pcd11.140267. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25376015/)