We all know that cooking with kids from a young age has many benefits, but it’s often hard to know how to structure these experiences and make them not only fun, but safe and not too disastrously messy!!
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Cooking with kids? Why?
Here are some of the top reasons:
- Fosters independence and confidence
- Encourages kids to eat well and enjoy a wide variety of foods
- Develops relationships and creates meaningful experiences together
- Encourages language development… cooking together involves lots of listening and chatting.
- Hands-on academic learning including math and science
- Gives practice following instructions
- Helps kids understand safety around knives and heat
What does research say?
If you want more in-depth information check out this post on YOUNG CHILDREN, HEALTHY EATING AND BODY IMAGE or you can listen to the podcast HERE.
Kids Cook Real Food
Katie Kimball is a former elementary school teacher who now specialises in helping adults feel confident in teaching their kids to cook. I have spent a lot of time reviewing her course, KIDS COOK REAL FOOD and I’m super impressed with how it’s laid out and all the support materials that come with it.
If you’re interested in teaching basic cooking skills to your kids at home or at school I recommend you check out this program. It’s affordable and if you sign up between Oct 18 – Nov 1 2017 you’ll receive a bonus video set for making instant pot / slow cooker meals.
There are three levels of learning: beginner (2-5 years), intermediate (5-8 years) and advanced (8-12 years). [The ages are approximate].
Each learning level contains 8 lessons which means there are 24 lessons all up (plus some bonus lessons).
Check out Katie and her kids demonstrating how to measure on TV.
Each lesson includes
- An intro video for adults to prepare (or just skim through the pdf)
- An intro video appropriate for all ages
- Videos for kids to see new skills being introduced – for eg, the beginners might be peeling and spreading, the intermediate kids will be reading a recipe and the advanced will be learning sharp knife skills.
- A lesson plan to help you prep which includes extension activities plus suggestions for substitutions if those foods can’t be used for any reason
- Groceries and supplies list
- Flash cards for skill reminders
- Recipes
Why cooking with kids will work at home
It’s designed so that multiple aged kids can work together in the kitchen at the same time. This means it can be a whole family learning experience – even working together to create meals!
Why it will work at school/preschool
I’m going to say because it puts safety first and because it has a well laid out curriculum map and lesson plans. This makes it much easier to implement and document than just choosing random recipes or skills.
To get a sense of whether Katie’s materials will work for you, she’s currently offering:
Free online training
7 Proven Strategies to End Mealtime Madness and Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy Food!
Katie will help you:
- enjoy peaceful dinners (where the kids actually sit down!)
- foster healthy eaters (vegetables? yes!)
- learn to be more stubborn than your picky eaters
She’s sharing them all in a (free!) live online event. If you check it out live you’ll also get a free knife skills video from her Kids Cook Real Food eCourse that you can use to teach your kids (of any age!) how to use dull and sharp knives safely, in a fun and kid-friendly way.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT FOR THE ON-LINE EVENT HERE!
When you sign up you’ll find a time converter so you can put in your region and the dates and times will automatically change. This is SO much easier than trying to work it out separately.
I hope you check out Katie’s free training and/or her online course and learn some new skills you can use with your kids.
