8 Reasons Why Cooking Is Great For Kids!

I was thinking after my post about being surprised that one of my kids can’t cook that some people might be surprised at how much my kids CAN cook.

Cooking is something I’ve always done with my kids from when they were very little – though obviously with being away for so long Lou had forgotten much of what she’d learnt when younger.

Apart from being a great way to spend time together doing something enjoyable, when you have children with learning difficulties you look for ways to integrate their learning goals and therapies into their every day life and cooking is a very easy way to do that which covers a multitude of areas though the learning involved would benefit any child no matter how they were wired.

Them being able to put a meal on table if need be is a great secondary result, but not the point of the exercise.

1. Cooking is great for teaching concepts.

Children learn a lot about mathematic concepts from cooking.  Cooking involves measuring, weight, volumes, fractions, counting, temperature and time as they use the scales, measuring cups/spoons, transfer things between containers, figure out how much or how many they need as well as how long things need to cook for and at what temperature.

There is also some science in there as ingredients change from liquids to solids and back again during cooking processes or when they expand, shrink, froth or gel and change colour – all great things for children to be able to get hands on with.

It’s also great for language development as your child learns and uses concepts important to recognising similarities, differences and opposites like smooth/ rough, hard/soft, wet/dry, sticky/crumbly, sweet/sour, salty/bland, hot/cold etc. Not to mention all the wonderful descriptive words that apply to food  that your child has the opportunity to learn and use while cooking with you (and I’m not talking cuss words when you cut or burn yourself) relating to size, colour, shape, scent, flavour, texture etc.

2. Cooking is great for motor skills.

Cooking involves cutting with knives and scissors, mixing, scooping, pouring, shaking, kneading, rolling and many other manipulations of your ingredients and tools.

Some of these things involve gross motor skills, some fine motor skills, some a combination of the two and it’s better than playing with playdough or finger painting with shaving cream because you can eat the end result.

3. Cooking engages all the senses.

Cooking is the ultimate in sensory rich experiences. It involves every sense – smell, hearing, sight, taste and touch.

There are many, many wonderful and some not so wonderful smells produced by cooking – nutty, fruity and spicy for example right up to the other end of the spectrum with the warning aroma’s of sour and burnt.

Cooking produces many different sounds like sizzling, bubbling, crackling and popping as you combine ingredients or cook them, crunching or slurping and other chewing sounds as you eat.

Food is also very visual with not only the many, many different colours, shapes and sizes of foods but also watching how food changes colour, size and shape as it cooks and learning to visually judge when it looks ready.

Children can experiment with how individual ingredients taste when raw, when cooked and in combination with each other. They also experiment how foods feel in their mouths. Some foods are hard, sticky, soft, chewy, crunchy or creamy and then we get into foods that are hot or cool tasting because of the ingredients used as well as experiencing differing temperatures.

Lastly there are so many different textures that you  use in raw ingredients, in combined ingredients and create in the finished product, like the feel of a fish or how dough goes from sticky to smooth as you work it or how soft whipped egg whites are just to name a few.

4. Cooking inspires creativity and helps children learn to experiment.

Just as our young children have a ball coming up with magnificent creations if we were to give them paper, glue and assorted materials for collage, they also have a ball with cupcakes, icing and assorted edible decorations. Or pizza bases, sauces and toppings. Or meat, mashed potato and veges. Or…..well you get the idea.

Our children’s imaginations are incredible things and food is just another medium that we can use to engage them. Sure their flavour combinations may at times be a little ‘out there’ for adult palettes, but as long as they are having fun and trying new things it’s all good right? (TJ, you are still not allowed to eat devon, tomato sauce and nutella on the one sandwich because that makes mummy want to heave!)

5. Cooking teaches children to follow directions.

Being able to follow directions is an incredibly important skill and one that we need to develop over time to include more complex instructions containing more steps. Starting with very simple recipes and moving on to more detailed and comples ones gives some pretty good practice at doing this.

Many children (particularly two of my children) aren’t great at looking at tasks, breaking them into steps and doing them in order. Recipes already have that stuff set out for them, but it still is good for learning to work within a process to get jobs done.

And at least with cooking if you stuff up a recipe you can chuck it out and start again.

6. Cooking teaches children important life skills.

Nutritionists are often pushing getting children involved in preparing the food that they eat. It stands to reason that if your child is helping you prepare the food that they are eating then they are more aware of what they are putting into their bodies and that they will be more aware of what is contained in different types of foods hopefully leading them to make good nutritional choices as adults.

Cooking  involves a number of skills that are not just about the food. Cooking involves planning, organising, time management, cleaning and hygiene. You have to plan what you are going to eat, when, where, how many people you are feeding. You have to organise your resources in terms of food and kitchen tools, if you need to shop and any help that you might need. You have to allow yourself time to complete each stage in the planning/organising/preparation and cooking to have your food ready at your goal time. You have to have a clean area to work in, clean up when finished and follow some good hygiene principles to ensure that your food doesn’t make other people sick.

We also come back to the whole following directions thing I mentioned in the previous point. I’m sure we’ve all had said to us at one time or another “if you can follow a recipe then you can ……………(fill in the blank)”.

Being able to follow directions or a process, being able to plan, being able to organise, being able to manage their time etc  are all skills that are going to help them meet many other challenges as adults whether it’s planning a project for work, an event like a party at home, putting together a system for doing their housework or just for programming their digital set top box for the telly.

And of course it means that they can feed themselves when they eventually grow up and leave home! lol

7. Cooking teaches kids enjoyment before it becomes their responsibility.

My theory is this -  if children have had good experiences with cooking as youngsters, feeling capable and confident in their abilities as they grow into young adults, then hopefully they will carry this with them through their life so that when the task of feeding everyone becomes a daily chore instead of an activity they won’t feel it is a burden and ditch it in favour of fast food diets.

So there you have it. My reasons for frequently experimenting in the kitchen with my kids.

Oh and of course there is the obvious reason and the most important one.

8. Cooking with kids is fun!

nuff said.

What reasons would you have come up with?