Did you know that cooking with your kids is a natural way for them to develop motor skills? If you’ve never looked at cooking that way before, think again. There’s a reason why kids have a universal love for cooking – just like for stacking blocks and banging!
Cooking is especially good for preschoolers and here’s how:
1. Two-year-olds are developing large muscles in their arms: They will enjoy stirring and stirring and stirring. My two-year-old is always asking to stir, and her subconscious knows why! At 2 years old, a child naturally imitates circular strokes as part of their normal physical development. So, let them stir at every opportunity.
Here are some ways to encourage arm muscle development through cooking: scrubbing potatoes and vegetables cleaning the cutting board: Give them a washcloth and some lukewarm water with the cutting board in the sink. They’ll have a blast rubbing the wet washcloth up and down the cutting board to clean it. Pouring from large measuring cups into a bowl.
2. Two-year-olds are developing the ability to turn pages: Another motor skill developed during the preschool age is the ability to turn pages.
So – just pondering here…is it the story they love so much or just turning the pages of the book? Well, actually both. They need the motor development of turning the pages, and the pictures and vocabulary improve their intellectual development.
3. Two-year-olds love “patting” and “pressing”: From being fascinated with “patty-cake” chants at an early age, a preschooler still loves to pat and press.
I’m sure you’ll recognize your preschooler doing this at the park: scooping up rocks or sand, piling them up, and patting the top into different shapes.
Well, here are some suggestions to bring the “patting” inside:
packing down brown sugar in the measuring cup
gently pressing a fork on top of peanut butter cookie dough on the cookie sheet
patting to level off the top of a cup of sugar
patting and pressing on pizza dough
pressing down with a cookie cutter on rolled sugar cookie dough
4. Two-year-olds love to dip – and this develops arm muscle skills too!: it takes a lot of coordination to dip! Getting the food in the dip, then moving the arm and somehow getting it into your mouth. If it wasn’t difficult, they wouldn’t get food all over their face! 🙂
So, unless your 2-year-old always has a clean face when he or she is done eating, here are some dipping opportunities:
carrots in salad dressing
french fries in catsup
dipping a spoon in the emptied batter bowl to clean out the goodies 🙂
dipping fruit in a fruit dip or chocolate (like frozen bananas or strawberries)
dipping chicken or fish in a batter for you to cook
dipping the bread in French toast mix
So, instead of “shooing” your preschoolers and 2-year-olds out of the kitchen, let them dive in with these simple tasks that not only give them great pleasure but help them develop their age-appropriate motor skills.
