What Skills Will Your Child Learn From Cooking?

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cooking-with-kids

I'm always looking for ways to sneak skill development into my kids' interests.


Cooking in the kitchen is an opportunity for a wealth of learning and development experiences. Think about all of the steps:
* Turning pages of a cookbook (fine motor work and pre-reading)
* Pulling the ingredients and tools from various heights, cupboards, and drawers (motor planning, problem solving, graded motor movements, body awareness, core strengthening, visual motor skills...)
* Washing fruits and veggies (tactile sensory)
* Chopping, dicing, grating, peeling (tool use, motor planning, fine motor strengthening, dexterity...)
* Scooping, pouring, spreading, stirring (proprioceptive experiences, motor planning, fine motor control...)
Then, consider the sensory benefits of using food as a calming or alerting tool that meets sensory needs.
The list of therapeutic benefits that happens in the kitchen goes on and on!
I'm excited to share a couple of resources I've been building for you: These are Pinterest boards and are totally free for anyone to access. I have a couple of pinboards dedicated to cooking with kids:
Alerting Foods for Oral Sensory Input
Calming Foods for Oral Sensory Input
And, be sure to stop by the blog to grab a recipe or two. Most of the recipes on the site include descriptions of the underlying skills that steps of the cooking process addresses while the kiddos are cooking, stirring, chopping, or mixing. You can find all of the Cooking With Kids recipes on The OT Toolbox HERE.
Do your kids like to help out in the kitchen? Make it a therapeutic and memory-making event!
Until next time,
Colleen
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