Kids in the kitchen

In a big family, one thing we never lack are kids in the kitchen asking to help cook, bake, or taste test! This works out for us because as a big family, we have a lot of food to make, so the more help we can get in the kitchen, the faster it gets on the table!

We are big on kid independence in our house and helping in the kitchen is a great way to practice new skills and obviously make memories together too. Everything generally takes a bit longer and is usually a little more of a mess – but it is always worth it to have a kid working and learning alongside us as we tackle the daily chores of meal making.

The benefits of kids helping in the kitchen

Depending on their ages/abilities, it is easy to add kid help to anything I am making for any meal. It can be a real joy as a parent to watch how much kids learn about so many different things while you cook/bake together. Our son, Grey learned about how important it is to measure when adding salt to food when he made a super-salty egg sausage casserole that made his Dad’s face squish up (hah! still a favorite memory story around here!)

There’s a lot of math in real life opportunities like counting cups, doubling recipes, and even fractions! Kids learn about time – why does it take so long for the cookies to bake?! – kids learn about not wasting food, and how much better things taste when we use fresh food (from our own garden, or chickens, or the farmer’s market!)

Of course, kids also learn about safety and precautions to take when working with the very real danger of appliances, electric, and sharp utensils. In our own house, we’ve had plenty of burned fingers from the stove or oven, enormous flour explosions when the electric mixer gets too speedy, and have had to pick egg shells out of a mix.

But like most things when it comes to raising up future people – you have to find a little patience, push through with some grace, and focus on the learning. They’re never going to learn to do it for themselves if you don’t show them how and why. We have to let them actually do it (no matter how long or how much of a mess it makes the first couple tries).

Kid kitchen helpers – expectations by age

Below are some examples of what our kids could do at various ages that you might be interested in trying out with your kids. Each of these skills need demonstrated, guided, and supervised to help your kid learn and practice. It’s not going to click in the first moment, and often times things are so automatic for us as parents, we forget it’s even a skill you need to learn in the first place at all (like holding a bowl steady as you stir).

Remember that every kid is going to progress at their own speed and it’s about evolving and figuring out what works best for YOUR kid at any given age. You have to start at the beginning no matter how old your child is right now. They will build up their skills as you make memories together and eventually – big bonus! – you’ll have a helping hand next to you as you do that never-ending adult task of feeding your family!

Ages 1-2

• wash hands before cooking
• watch as you do and explain aloud
• throw things in the trash
• help wipe up spills
• smell various ingredients before adding to recipe
• taste test!

Ages 2-3

• stir mixes with a utensil- frequent reminders that “we keep one hand on the bowl to hold it steady, and the other hand stirs”
• add pre-measured ingredients to a bowl
• get supplies out that we will need (peanut butter, chocolate chips, etc)
• do one by one things: put cupcake liners in cupcake tin, add blueberries as toppings to each iced cupcake, etc

Ages 4-6

• crack eggs into a bowl
• use an electric hand mixer
• count correct cups (give the correct size measuring tool and the item and explain how many of that they need to add)
• use a rolling pin
• use cookie cutters without assistance
• use a butter knife to spread toppings (butter/jelly – although peanut butter is a hard one to get right – even our 9 yr old still struggles adding peanut butter to toast!)
• use a sharp knife to cut soft, long food (bananas, cucumbers, carrots)
• pick ripe vegetables from the garden (knows the difference between still growing and ripe)
• make toast/waffles/toaster strudel & take it out of the toaster safely

 Ages 7-8

• cook eggs on a stove (scrambled)
• brown ground meat in a skillet
• use a sharp knife to cut up food (apples, heads of lettuce, onions, meats, etc)
• pour own drinks/cereal (without a huge mess)
• ice a cake/cupcakes 
• add sprinkles (without a huge mess)
• flip pancakes
• knead dough
• ‘fold’ delicate things into a batter (like blueberries)
• make own sandwiches (lunchmeat, pb&j)
• shuck corn (unassisted)
• set the microwave time correctly
• clean up after cooking/baking (wipe down, return all items, etc)

Ages 9-10

• follow a handwritten recipe after we go over it together
• read & understand the packaging for baking instructions (oven temp and length of cooking)
• put things in and out of the oven with mitts
• cook on the stove (including turning it on/off, using the correct size burner, etc)
• mix & create own sauces/condiments
• start a fire in a fire ring (for campfire cooking)
• steam things in a pan (breakfast sausage, vegetables)

Ages 11-12

• follow a recipe from the internet or a cookbook
• planning a meal, checking for ingredients, and creating a grocery list if needed
• use a blender
• use hand graters and peelers
• strain cooked pasta
• create and assemble charcuterie style snack boards
• independently make ‘kid favorite’ type foods (mac&cheese, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets in oven, etc)
• beginning to learn how to grill simple things like hamburgers and hot dogs – highly supervised/assisted
• begin to automate common cooking/baking routines (oil in a pan, salt in pasta water, pre-heating oven, etc)

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