Setting up your kitchen to promote Montessori learning will be key. Make sure the kitchen is not cluttered and the only items that are out are at the child’s level. They can stand on a high-back chair if you feel it’s safe enough, or you can invest in/make one of these nifty stools.
Start Small
When cooking with young kids, it’s best to make sure you introduce one skill at a time. You also want to make sure that they are developmentally ready to learn the new skill. We started out with ready-made biscuit mix because she could practice pouring dry (biscuit mix) and wet (water) ingredients. After that, I did the mixing but showed her how I was doing it so that she could do it next time. Other simple things to try are instant mashed potatoes, Jello, ready-made muffin mix. I admit, the simple stuff is a bit more processed than what we typically have at our house, but it’s a great place to start. You can always prep food/pre mix ingredients yourself so that you are able to isolate the new skill that they are working on.
Step by Step
As their skills progress, and they are showing readiness of being able to follow simple steps in other learning areas, you could make simple 3 step recipe cards for them to follow. Ex: 1 combine ingredients, 2 mix ingredients, 3 spoon mix into muffin tin. The more that they can do themselves, the more they will enjoy the activity and become more confident at it. It’s okay to be messy and to have lopsided or lumpy food. Expect that they will want to sample the ingredients or play with it a little. Cooking is a sensorial activity and it’s good to allow them to do this (as long as the ingredients are not raw eggs or anything that is not safe).
If you are tight on time, try Papa Murphy’s. They have a kid’s pizza kit that my daughter loves. Kids can make their own pizza and pop it in the toaster oven. Another thing we enjoyed was using fondant frosting for a little cake we made. It was so much fun because it was like playing with playdough!
Here are a few skills that they can learn in the kitchen:
- mixing
- rolling
- smashing/mashing
- kneading
- peeling hard boiled eggs or oranges
- juicing
