5 Amazing Benefits of Cooking with Kids

The essential life skill

While lending a hand in the kitchen, your little sous-chef will learn how to follow a recipe, so they’ll know how to approach a packet of rice, or how to knead dough until it becomes elastic and smooth; on top of that, they will gain the resources to put together a simple meal by themselves, like picking and mixing different ingredients to make an easy pasta sauce. Maybe they won’t become a celebrity chef but they will never forget how to cook. It’s like riding a bicycle!

Sneaky learning

Cooking is a fun way to introduce your child to a wide range of skills, from hand-eye coordination to basic weighing and measuring and simple math knowledge. The best part of it, it’s that there is no mark at the end, only yummy treats.

The road to healthy eating

Involving your kids in the kitchen is the first step to fostering healthy eating habits: you can start a conversation on different food groups and why it is important to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables. You can also have your little sous-chef join the grocery mission and talk through the labels of the ingredients you are buying, so that they learn that it is important to know what we put in our tummies. By cooking meals with your kids you’ll also teach them how easy eating healthily can be and eventually it will come naturally to them.

Trying new foods

Picky eaters will be more likely to try a new dish if they have helped out with making it. Talk your little sous-chef through what you are going to cook, especially if it involves new ingredients and make sure you include something that they like. When the oven opens, they won’t be able to resist a little taste test of their yummy creation. They might not polish off their plate but in time they’ll develop an open attitude to new foods, even if there’s something green in them!

Floury fun!

Getting your children involved in the kitchen is a perfect way to make memories. Your memories will probably involve trying to stop your little sous-chef from eating all the cookie dough as well as happily cutting cookies, but both of you will cherish these floury, sticky, lovely memories forever!

So we hope we have convinced you to brave it and that you will try to whip up a delicious meal with the help of your little sous-chef.

Why not start with a My Little Sous-Chef recipe? Download our free recipe here.