Cooking 101

Did you know that parents have the greatest influence on children when it comes to learning about food and cooking? Hands-on cooking activities are a great way to improve mealtime practices and eating habits. Hands-on activities help build the self-confidence and self-efficacy of children through skill development.

Assess your own food skills and learn more about the topic with the Food Skills Questionnaire (PDF).

What are some benefits of cooking as a family?

• Make meal time faster; assign age-appropriate tasks to your children.
• Involving children in the kitchen gives them control over their food, making them more likely to eat it. It can help with picky eating.
• Spend time as a family.
• Pass on family and cultural traditions.
• Build confidence, independence and lifelong healthy lifestyle habits. What your child learns today stays with them in the future.
• Practical life skills. Your kitchen is a classroom where your children can learn about:
  • Math: work with fractions, measure and count
  • Science: how cooking changes food to make it softer, harder, tastier
  • Social skills: work as a team and share tasks to do something concrete
  • Language: read a recipe, write a grocery list
  • ...and more!

Check out the rest of our Cooking 101 section:

• How to get your Child Cooking - What to teach at each age
• Cooking Activities
• Kitchen and Food Safety