3 Reasons Cooking with Kids is Important

Preschoolers love to help mom cook, but let’s be honest, preschoolers slow you down. It’s hard to get dinner on the table with a small child underfoot. That may be the case, but you still need to let your preschoolers cook with you!

Discover three fabulous reasons cooking with kids is important. From learning important life skills to important health benefits, don’t pass up this important learning opportunity.

Skills Learned When Cooking with Kids

1. Math Skills

Cooking gives preschoolers an opportunity to use their numbers in a practical way. Kids can count the cups of flour going into biscuits. They can count out 4 carrots for you to chop. Cooking is an excellent way to develop kids ability to count.

Cooking also introduces the concept of fractions. You have the opportunity to explain what half, third, and a quarter means. So when your kids run into this concept in kindergarten and first grade, they already have a leg up on their classmates.

Measuring is another critical math skill the cooking develops in preschoolers. You can explain why it’s so important to be accurate when we’re measuring flour, sugar, and milk.

2. Health

Cooking gives you a chance to chat with your children about health and diet. Why don’t you want to eat nothing but cake, cookies, and candy at every meal? Ask your child that some time. You should get an entertaining answer!

You can chat about how vegetables include necessary minerals and vitamins we need to stay healthy. You can mention the components of a healthy diet and how you work to ensure each meal is healthy so your kids can grow.

And chatting about a healthy diet once with your kids isn’t enough. It takes time and repetition for the concept to sink into our children’s heads!

3. Life Skill

Children grow up and move out of the house. When that happens, your child will need to know how to cook for themselves.

The best way to ensure your children know how to cook is to begin in preschool. They can help you measure flour, stir the batter, and fetch vegetables. As the years go by, you’ll find that helping mommy in preschool naturally leads to knowing how to cook simple meals as an older child.

Eventually, your children will know how to prepare healthy meals for themselves, friends, and family.

But it all begins with helping mommy cook when young!

So make a habit of encouraging your preschoolers to help you cook in the kitchen! You will need extra time, but it’s worth the time and effort to teach your children to cook.

How often are you intentional about cooking with kids?

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