Cooking is Food for the Brain

Why is cooking with our kids so important? There are so many enriching benefits gained from enlisting your children to help with preparing meals at home. It is the ultimate opportunity to learn in context! Depending on their age and strengths, you can have them help with everything from creating the budget for the meal to measuring the baking powder. If one were to pull out just some of the individual curriculum threads from making a meal together in this integrated activity you get:
  • Community
  • Process skills
  • Measurement
  • Fractions
  • Multiplication & division
  • Problem solving
  • Compromise
  • Improvising
  • Teamwork
  • Ratios & proportion
  • Chemistry
  • Cultural traditions & history
  • Communication
  • Reading directions
  • Coordination (especially when cracking eggs)
  • Healthy risk taking
  • Life skills
  • Clean up
  • Budgeting
  • Market research
  • Using your senses
It is important for children to be involved in the work it takes to run a home. Research shows that kids who do reasonable, age appropriate chores growing up are more successful independent adults. Research also indicates that kids who have practical obligations and are relied upon in their family unit tend to make less risky decisions as adolescents and young adults. It helps develop their sense of purpose and belonging.

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