What Do Children Gain from Cooking?

What Do Children Gain from Cooking?

• A blossoming of creativity and a sense of aesthetics
• Early math skills (counting, measuring, sequencing of events, an understanding of time)
• Confidence and self-esteem; a feeling of accomplishment
• Prereading and beginning reading skills (numeral, symbol, and word recognition; left to right cueing)
• Small motor skills; hand-eye coordination
• Strength and endurance (stirring the batter or spreading cream cheese can be hard work if you are only three feet tall)
• Science skills (chemistry, temperature, cause and effect)
• Patience and self-control (waiting for that pizza to come out of the oven is a challenge!)
• Language skills (observing, describing, predicting outcomes)
• Ability to follow directions
• A sense of teamwork
• Food literacy (an openness to trying new foods; familiarity with fruits, vegetables, other ingredients, techniques, processes- plus a new awareness and appreciation about the foods we eat, what they are, where they come from...etc.)
• Increased interest and curiosity about all of the above!