Cooking to Promote Development and Learning
Cooking is not only a fun, engaging activity for children, but one that has been used for years as an importantteaching and development tool for all ages.
Social-Emotional Development – Hands-on cooking activities help children develop pride and confidence in their skills and abilities. The act of following a recipe can encourage self-direction and independence, while also teaching children to follow directions and use thinking skills to problem solve.
Physical Development – Chopping, squeezing, spreading, and mixing are all cooking skills that help develop a child’s small muscle control and eye-hand coordination. It’s impossible to separate hands-on cooking activities from physical development for young children.
Cognitive Development – Cooking inspires children’s curiosity, thinking, and problem solving, offering new opportunities to make predictions and observations. Additionally, cooking offers authentic opportunities for students to understand and apply their knowledge of measuring, one-to-one correspondence, numbers, and counting. As they follow a recipe, children organize ingredients, follow a sequence, and carry out multiple directions.
Language Development – With its own vocabulary, cooking is a great opportunity for language development. Take advantage of opportunities for children to match pictures to words and articulate questions inspired by their new experiences.
Connections to Content Areas
Mathematics
 Number concepts
One-to-one correspondence
Simple addition
Patterning (layered salads, kabobs)
Measurement
Data collection, organization, and representation
(voting on who wants a particular recipe or
ingredient)
Simple fractions (half, whole, quarter)
Arts
Drawing/painting fresh seasonal products
Pictorial recipes
Edible art
Science
Life science (growing food in the garden)
Physical science investigation (changing forms, liquids, solids, gases)
Making predictions and observations
Social Studies
Share family recipes
Discover the important role of farmers in
communities
Literacy
Vocabulary and language development
Children’s literature
Recipe cards
Tips for Cooking with Preschool Children
The Teacher’s Role
Engaging children in conversation
Verbalizing and describing what children are doing
Discussing where foods come from
Posing questions to encourage children to articulate what they are doing
Making observations
Posing questions for children to analyze and solve
Modeling positive attitudes and behaviors.
Selecting Recipes for Young Children
Are the hands-on skills age/developmentally appropriate?
Do you have access to needed appliances?
Do you have adequate supervision?
Does the recipe connect with children’s interests or classroom projects?
Does the recipe promote healthy food choices?
Does the recipe feature seasonal and local products children can find in the garden or on a local farm?
Is the recipe culturally relevant?
Is the recipe affordable for all families, and does it use familiar ingredients they have at home?
Introducing Recipes to Children
1. Prepare a simple recipe chart with illustrations of each step
2. Have examples of ingredients in their raw form
3. Have all necessary equipment and ingredients prepped and available
4. Read the recipe aloud, discussing each step
5. Discuss rules and/or safety considerations and have children identify these for specific steps
6. Include all children in the clean-up process
Recipe Ideas for Preschool Children
Layered yogurt parfaits with local fruits – Children create their own parfaits and practice sequencing.
Garden “roll ups” (lettuce, Napa cabbage, tortillas) – Filled with child’s choice of veggies, sauces, herbs, etc.
Boats – Cucumber, bell pepper, or summer squash – children hollow out their own boat and fill with cream
cheese, herbs, other veggies, etc. If you have access to an oven, you can take this recipe to another level and
fill hollowed veggies with rice, beans, cheese, etc. and bake. Make sure each child’s boat is labeled as their
own.
Fruit and veggie insects – Similar idea to boats, but inverted. Apple lady bugs (1/2 apple, cream cheese to
hold on raisin spots), cucumber caterpillars (small pickling cucumbers sliced lengthwise, children decorate
with finely chopped veggies, using dip or cream cheese as “glue”).
Mashed potatoes or winter squash – Pre-cook potatoes or winter squash so that children can cut and mash
them easily. As a class, everyone can participate in making butter (heavy cream and salt in a plastic, wellsealed jar. Take turns shaking until solid separates from liquid).
Number or rainbow Salad – Children use counting skills to build their own salad. Children can rip lettuce or spinach leaves, cut cherry tomatoes/cucumbers/green pepper/summer squash, etc. and make their own dressing. Some harder veggies such as carrots can be made into “ribbons” using a peeler. The more choices children have the better, so offer them a variety of ingredients for their salad. For a rainbow salad, have a variety of colorful veggies and ingredients for children to choose from.
Spinach Bread – If you have access to an oven, this is a fun recipe. Have a piece of pre-made dough (pizza dough works well) for each child. Make sure to talk about how it was made and where the ingredients came from. Each child can knead and roll their own dough. Encourage the use of hands so that you don’t have to sterilize rolling pins and tools between uses. Spread dough as flat as possible and top with spinach, cheese, a small amount of olive oil, and salt and pepper. Children can roll up or fold the dough as they choose to “hide the secret ingredients.
Cooking Abilities of Young Children
Two-year-olds are learning to use the large muscles in their arms. Try activities such as:
scrubbing vegetables and fruits
carrying unbreakable items to the table
dipping foods
washing and tearing lettuce and salad greens
breaking bread into pieces
Three-year-olds are learning to use their hands. Try activities such as:
pouring liquids into batter (you measure first)
mixing batter or other dry and wet ingredients together
shaking a drink in a closed container
spreading butters or spreads
kneading dough
washing vegetables and fruit
serving foods
putting things in the trash after cooking or after a meal
Four and five-year-olds are learning to control small muscles in their fingers. Try activities such as:
juicing oranges, lemons, and limes
peeling some fruits and vegetables (bananas and even onions)
mashing soft fruits and vegetables
scrubbing vegetables (potatoes, mushrooms)
cutting soft foods with a plastic knife (mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs)
pressing cookie cutters
measuring dry ingredients
cracking open/breaking eggs
beating eggs with an egg beater
setting the table
wiping up after cooking
clearing the table after a meal
