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Cooking with your Child
Cooking
With Your Kids Helps Develop Motor Skills for
Preschoolers
by:
Laura Bankston
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:
-
stirring:
flour, eggs, pancake batter, gelatin making, etc.
-
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, preschooler's still love
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's 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
muscles 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's some dipping
opportunities:
-
carrots
in salad dressing
-
-
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.
Laura
Bankston is author of Internationally selling
Cooking with Kids Curriculum: “Homeschool
Cooking in a Box” and the “Homeschool
Cookbook”. She currently home schools
her three children, maintains home school support
websites, and manages their family-owned service
business. For information on her curriculum
and free home school support services, please
visit
http://www.homeschoolcookbook.com
laura@homeschoolcookbook.com
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