There are many benefits to cooking with children. Different aspects of cooking can help support the development of your child in the following ways:
Communication and language development: talking about textures, smells and tastes can extend a child’s vocabulary and encourage children to talk in longer, more complex sentences and can help boost their communication skills from child to adult.
Personal, Social and Emotional development: cooking helps support and encourage children to obtain a positive attitude and outlook on healthy eating and self-hygiene, such as washing hands before cooking, being safe with cooking utensils and the dangers of heat from an oven.
Physical development: Cooking helps promotes the development of fine and gross motor skills such as the use of cooking utensils and tools and stirring with spoons. Tipping and pouring ingredients can also further develop these skills as well as developing hand-eye coordination.
Mathematical development: Cooking involves lots of maths skills including weighing, estimating and measuring time. Cooking and baking also encourages mathematical language such as discussing amounts and using language such as more than and less than.
Understanding the World: Cooking with children can help with exploring how different ingredients work together, and what happens when het is added such as cakes rising in the oven. Cooking can also spark the interest of where ingredients originate or grow from, and also can lead to children being interested in growing their own to use in a recipe.
Expressive arts and design: Cooking with children really develops the opportunity for creativity, trying different mixtures of flavours and an array of colours and designs.
Literacy development: As children grow older cooking will help children how to read instructions and recipes and how to follow them.
Some Simple Recipes to Try
Let’s take a look at some simple recipes to get you starting cooking with your child. We have compiled some easy and tasty recipes below to get you on the right track!
1. Kids' easy omelette– This easy kids omelette is perfect for introducing the children to the kitchen. Try it with cheese, ham or veggies
2. Banana peanut cornflake bars - This easy snack uses just 5 ingredients! Top a peanut butter and cornflake base with bananas and melted dark chocolate for the ultimate, family-friendly sweet treat. https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/banana-peanut-cornflake-bars.html
3. Eat the rainbow pizza- Pizza needn’t be an unhealthy treat – this quick and easy recipe is loaded with a colourful array of vegetables. Prepare all the veg, then let the kids pick their favourites to decorate their dough.
4. Tuna fish cakes - These tuna fish cakes are a great way of using up leftover mashed potatoes, get the kids to help with the cooking and they may never ask for fish fingers again. Serve with easy sweet potato fries. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fish_cakes_with_sweet_04563
5. Build-your-own smoothies- Make mornings more fun with a DIY smoothie bar. Prepare each of the smoothies below by blitzing them up until smooth, then serve each drink in a separate jug so everyone can pour their own combination and create colourful layers. https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/build-your-own-smoothies.html
We hope you have fun having a go at some of the recipes we’ve suggested above. We hope you have fun in the kitchen and create something yummy for you and your child to enjoy!
About Us:
The Country Mouse Children's Nursery is an excellent nursery in Midhurst, 10 minutes from Petworth and 20 minutes from Chichester, with childcare places for 2 months-5 year olds. We can offer your child fabulous fun filled days of activities to help them learn and make lots of new friends. We have a beautiful large garden with brilliant outdoor learning. Please come and see us, our fantastic classrooms and our magical garden!...and our very special staff team.
Visit the Country Mouse Nursery Website at: www.thecountrymousenursery.co.uk
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