Cooking with children is fun, builds lifelong skills and helps kids learn to like new foods.
3-5 years old
- Using a rolling pin
- Rolling mixtures into balls
- Using a cookie cutter
- Breaking vegetables into pieces
- Cutting, chopping, slicing^
- Mashing
- Serving
- Tearing leaves
- Stirring and mixing
- Measuring
5-7 years old
- Sprinkling and rubbing in
- Crumbing, flouring, dipping
- Picking and podding
- Using scissors*
- Spreading
- Greasing
- Peeling
- Squeezing
- Sieving
7-9 years old
- Crushing and pounding
- Shaking liquids in containers
- Weighing and measuring
- Using oven or microwave*
- Using a hand mixer*
- Draining
- Skewering*
- Grating*
- Pouring
9+ years old
- Stirring and mixing over heat*
- Weighing and measuring
- Grating
- Using oven or microwave*
- Using a hand mixer*
- Using a peeler
- Using a can opener
- Using sharp scissors
- Skewering
^Supervised and with child-safe knives
*Close supervision recommended
Download this resource
Children's cooking skills
DownloadCooking with children encourages them to build lifelong skills to eat well. This is a guide to some of the ways children can participate in the kitchen.
