#perfectlyimperfectmom
COOKING WITH TODDLER
Being a stay at home mom, most of my time goes into the kitchen. And as I have a super active, supper observant; toddler who is always super interested in what ever his parents does, rather than his own toys , our kitchen has provided us with lots of developmental and; sensory activities along with the cooking...
I have found huge benefits in 'The Kitchen Play' , the list is endless!!!

🍔 Cooking is the thing where Children can use all their SENSES such as, touch, feel ,smell, see, taste... it's a MULTISENSORY TASK.

🍔It provides activities which provides HAND EYE COORDINATION...

🍔 Give respect take respect policy best works with toddlers. If you give them a little importance and freedom they want, they are all set! Involving them in kitchen activities gives them a sense of INDEPENDENCE. It's great to see the happiness when they finish whisking the eggs on their own.

🍔 It can happen you in making a HAPPY MEALTIME. When you keep the food in plate, they go through the making process, get excited about it, as they themselves we're involved in it. So the food is more interesting for them now. Also you can make them eat whole cooking itself.

🍔 It's a QUALITY TIME, that you are spending with them along side finishing your daily chores. They get all what they want,; freedom, interesting work, and your attention. You can talk about food, receipes, utensils etc. It's a great bonding time for us!! ( Plus I can be stress-free as I don't have to spend much time on another DIY..it works so well!😋)

🍔 With all the sensory activities it also benefits the MATHEMATICAL SKILLS for example, how many glasses needs to fEel the jug.; plus the MANAGEMENT SKILLS For example, when the egg whites and yellows are all mixed in the bowl, they knows it's time to put it in the pan.

🍔It inculcates HEALTHY EATING HABBIT. You can introduce lots of healthy food items, exploring colors, forms, tastes is a different kind of excitement for them.

🍔 I feel it also improves their VOCABULARY. You get lot of time to talk to them while giving instructions and they learn lots of new words which are equally exciting for them. For older kids you can read the reciepe together!!

🍔I strongly feel that cooking is the greatest PRACTICAL LEARNING with so many essential skills.

🍔 SAFETY MEASUREMENTS like , after how much time we can touch; the hot pan, which button to switch off and when.


Some of the activities I would love to share which we do in the kitchen...
🍟; MASHING
The simplest of all!! Potatoes mashing is his favorite tasks. You can also mash boiled apples, biscuits and cookies for cakes. We have a small steel masher which is easy to hold and handle for him. It requires hand eye coordination and he had learned the judgement the speed of mashing in order to avoid spreading.

You can also put it in a plastic bag.

🍟EGG BEATING
It was somehow difficult in initial days but now he got to know everything about it.

They learn to control their hand in order to avoid the spilling. Plus breaking eggs in different ways is a fun!!

🍟 PORTING UTENSILS
He is getting the idea of how slow he has to walk in order to carry a glass full of water to the dining area, without spilling it!!
It's been so long since I have carried the small utensils like bowls, spoons glass, plates pots, to the dining table!

🍟 SORTING ACTIVITIES
I involve him in arranging veggies and fruits in the fridge or in the baskets.

We arrange different spoons , knives, plates, glasses according to their appearance like small, big, round, oval, long, etc.

🍟 WASHING
It includes fruits , veggies and also the utensils.
It's difficult to tell them everytime that they have to wash Fruits before eating. But when they do it by themselves,it's become easy!!

🍟FLOUR PLAY
Ahm....it's a bit difficult ( for you) and interesting ( for them ) task.

We hide object in the flour and tell him to find. This way they comes to know the different texture of different types of flour.

It works with older kids.

🍟 CLEANING
After all the mess has to be cleaned right!! Involve them and let them see the difference between messy place and the clean place..which looks better and gives more space to play??;

🍟OTHER FUN
We use all the utensils as musical instruments.. sometimes it's annoying but usually it's a great time pass...

Water play... washing dishes just for fun..and then playing with the foam!!

Learn rhymes related to cooking..he loves singing Pat a cake and hot cross bun....

You still need to be very careful about them handling the stuff. As they get older they become more independent in the kitchen and at least learn the basic art of cooking which will help then throughout their life!!!

PS: You know why I wrote this? Yesterday he asked me why I am grating the carrots and mashing the potatoes as he wanted to reverse the process!!!! 🙈🙈🙈