Sweetest Days of Childhood: Cooking with a Toddler

Cooking with a toddler is crazy, messy, practical fun. The skills they learn and the memories they make while cooking will be something they carry with them their whole lives.

Beatrix has been in the kitchen with me since a few days old. I would either wear her or she would sit in her bouncy chair while I cooked and explained to her everything I was doing. I still wear her a lot of the time while I cook, but more and more I am having her help me out!

Above are pictures of some of Bea's previous cooking adventures.

Here are some things to keep in mind while cooking with a toddler:

Plan ahead. Gather all of your ingredients, you may also want to pre-measure everything into bowls like they do on cooking shows. You don't want to leave your child sitting on the counter where they may fall while you rummage in the pantry for a new bag of sugar.
Let them try. Cooking is a perfect opportunity to help them hone their scooping, dumping, and stirring skills.
It is okay to make a mess. ^see above^ Your child's skills likely need some perfecting. Just accept the fact there will be a mess. Obviously you don't want flour thrown all over your kitchen, but if they are really trying to make it in the bowl, encourage them! Make sure they participate in cleaning the mess afterward!
Be ready for lots of touching. All these ingredients are interesting! Some are cold, some are sticky. Let them explore with their senses. If it is safe, allow them to taste. They should wash their hands before cooking, to avoid germs.
Keep them safe. This really should go without saying, but never let a toddler handle hot food or sharp utensils.

Today, Bea and I baked chocolate chip cookies. She helped stir the dry ingredients together, after she dumped in the flour I measured for her. In the middle picture she is tasting the butter. In the picture on the right she is sneaking some dough.