These simple kitchen tasks for toddlers are a great way for you spend time in the kitchen with your kids. They’ll have fun learning, developing new skills and trying new things!
Hi friends!
If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed I’ve been posting a lot recently about my time in the kitchen with Squish. Although he’s been helping me in the kitchen for quite a while now, I’ve really made it a goal this year to help more people realize the importance of getting into the kitchen with your kids. They can do a lot more than you may think…especially with some practice.
Since I started sharing these videos, I’ve had so many people tell me that they’ve always wanted to bring their kids into the kitchen but just weren’t really sure where to start. The answer is- it doesn’t matter! Just start!
It’s messy, it takes forever and it definitely requires some patience…but it’s so important. And it’s about so much more than food. The other day, Squish and I made baked beans. When we were done, he took one taste and spit them out. So he didn’t eat baked beans that day. But you know what he did do during our time making those beans?
- He tasted molasses for the first time
- He worked on his fine motor skills by trying to use the can opener.
- He practiced his coordination by pouring ingredients into the bowl.
- He practiced counting the dried beans.
- He had fun!
So don’t focus too much on things going perfectly. Just grab the kids and give it a try!
Here are 12 things toddlers can do in the kitchen:
- Pour/drain – Measure ingredients and help them pour, open a can and let them dump it in all by themselves, give them a bottle and let them pour some into the pan, help them dump something into a strainer
- Stir – Hand them a spoon and a bowl of ingredients and let them go to town. I even let Squish stir things on the stove if he’s being carefully monitored.
- Rip – Give them a head of lettuce and show them how to remove the leaves, tear them into little put them in the salad spinner.
- Spin – Rinse lettuce in a salad spinner and let them go to town pumping the salad spinner to spin it dry. Then let them help you put it into bowls.
- Peel – Hand them a vegetable peeler and let them work on peeling some carrots or potatoes.
- Scoop – Make cookies or muffins and let them help you scoop the batter onto a try or into a tin. A cookie scoop works well for this!
- Count – Tell them you need 3 carrots and help them practice counting them out for you.
- Chop – Give them a small plastic cutting board and a small plastic knife and let them practice cutting soft things like mushrooms, cooked potatoes, etc.
- Crack – Help them crack an egg into a bowl and then practice washing hands.
- Retrieve – Tell them what ingredient you need and let them get it for you out of the pantry.
- Put away – Let them help you bring the groceries inside or empty the dishwasher and give them things to put away in their proper place.
- Taste – Encourage them to try things during the cooking process, as well as after you’re done. Squish is much more likely to taste a carrot after he peels it than if he just sees it on his dinner plate.
Side note- I realize some people may think 26 months is too young for him to be doing some of the things he’s doing and that’s ok! Everyone will have their own comfort level for letting their kids do things. I’ve made it a point to talk about kitchen safety every time we’re in the kitchen. We talk about how the oven is hot and he shouldn’t open it, how mommy uses pot holders to get hot things. We talk about how the stove is hot, how he doesn’t touch the knobs for the burners or the hot pans on the stove, how he doesn’t stand on his stool by the stove unless mommy is right there with him, etc.
The more often and earlier they start hearing these things, the more likely they’ll follow the rules. Do what you’re comfortable with. If I was bringing him into the kitchen for the first time today, I probably wouldn’t let him help me use a hand mixer or stir something on the stove. It takes time and practice.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Want some help in the kitchen? Here are 12 kitchen tasks for toddlers!” quote=”Want some help in the kitchen? Here are 12 kitchen tasks for toddlers!”]
In case you’re a visual person, here are some videos of Squish helping me in the kitchen lately. In the past couple of weeks we’ve made Green Bean Fries, Banana Oat Bars, Chicken Pad Thai and more!
Even when they don’t like the end result, they’re still learning and building skills!
Here are (affiliate) links to a few of the kitchen tools you see in the videos:
- Curious Chef Nylon Knife Set
- Little Partners Learning Tower
- Curious Chef 30-piece Chef Caddy Collection (don’t have this but want it!)
Like this post? Be sure to pin it to help encourage others to get their kids in the kitchen!
Cooking with Squish is fun for me, but I realize that for some people it may be stressful to bring kids into the kitchen. My friend and fellow RD Katie has two toddlers and a baby. She enjoys her time alone in the kitchen and that’s great! But even though it stresses her out a little bit, she’s still making an effort to spend some time in the kitchen with her kids each week. Check out her Toddlers In The Kitchen post as well!
If your kids are a little older, you might like this post I wrote about a year and a half ago about kids in the kitchen. I reached out to several of my friends to see how they got their kids involved in the kitchen!
If you’re struggling with feeding your young child, check out our Table Talk ebook for tips and tricks for feeding young kids!
Let’s chat:
Do you cook with your kids?! What’s your favorite thing to make?
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!
Great post! Last week my 23 month old and I made the banana oat bars. It was messy like you said but it went great. So I’ve been trying to be mindful of what else he can help with. I had him help a few days ago with making oatmeal. He poured the ingredients and stirred! I love the idea of having him count, retrieve items and cut small things. With baby #2 quickly approaching I see this as a good bonding experience!
My little girl (3) loves helping to make cakes. So many skills covered and a great source of vocabulary while having fun together. The funny thing is, she doesn’t actually like to eat cake, just make it!
I couldn’t agree more with everything you said. My kids are some of the best eaters around (and yet they are still picky about some things) but I know getting them in the kitchen has made them more adventerous AND allowed them to learn important skills.
I’m a big fan of your cooking with kids posts/videos! My 2.5 year old has been helping me for as long as I can remember and I know I will cherish those memories forever. For a mom who works outside the home, it is also nice to involve him in a task that has to get done either way. We get to spend time together, he learns, and dinner gets made! 🙂
Love love love this post! We tried making Christmas cookies with my toddler and it failed, epic fail. He was having a tantrum about wanting to add more flour and ingredients that we had already added! Oh life of a toddler mom. But you have some awesome other ideas I can get him tuned in to. THANK YOU!
This is a great way to start teaching basic life skills at a young age … more parents should be proactive like this!
Love this idea so much! My son is just a year and a half but you can see he’s now interested in what we are doing when we are baking or cooking so I try to hold him up and help when he can. He’s not quite steady enough to stand on a chair but I hope just even a few minutes spent ‘helping’ will keep his interest peaked! Great post!
My daughter is currently obsessed with peeling things! LOL!
I LOVE seeing how you get your kids involved in the kitchen. So adorable!! Hopefully someday I can do the same 🙂
I LOVE the cooking with kids videos so cute and so real, keep them up!
I’ve had my son with me in the kitchen since he was born – starting from just hanging out in the bouncy seat, then watching from the Bumbo to standing on a stool and helping. He is 5 now and loves to help me bake and cook – he’ll actually get mad sometimes if I start without him. I always give him the option to go play, watch tv or help and sometimes he picks the others but most of the time he prefers to help me and I enjoy it just as much as he does.
My daughter LOVES helping in the kitchen. One of our favorite things to do is bake with old bananas. A perfect task for her since an even younger age is to peel the bananas and break it into pieces into a mixing bowl. Plus, she loves sneaking a taste 🙂 Great tips!
such a great idea! I just shared this with a client whose struggling to find the time to cook since her little girl is kinda needy right now 😉
yay!!
Love your list! I’m always looking for more ways to keep the kids involved in with food. My little man (now almost 3) loves kitchen gadgets and tools. Helping squeeze the garlic press, pushing buttons on the blender (or telling me which ones to push!) He likes to cook in his pretend play too and is shockingly detailed with the steps… From gathering “ingredients” to putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
yes! squish is very detailed when he pretends too!
My 20 month old has been standing in our Little Helper step stool in the kitchen since before his first birthday. Now, he loves to help dump and mix ingredients for baking, cut biscuits or cookies, and talk about our different ingredients. He also plays at washing dishes in the sink, will bring me ingredients, and loves nothing more than unloading the dishwasher together. He understands very well the concepts of both “hot” and “sharp” (not that I can trust him with a kitchen knife or anything, lol!). Being in the kitchen with a toddler is a lot of work, but he loves it!! Check out the Little Helper step stool: we call it his “box” because it has four sides. He can’t fall out of it and it has multiple levels for a growing child. He’s a small child, and could get right up to he counter easily when we first bought it—helped him feel in on the action, especially at dinner time when my husband and I were both in the kitchen 🙂
yep. we had one and used it all the time when he was younger. i mentioned it in my kitchen tools for kids post!
Yes!! My 2 yr old is always in the kitchen with me because I love to be there and share that space with him. He helps me make dinner as long as baby sis is happy or sleeping 😉 It’s definitely helped to foster a love of healthy eating and experimentation. Also, it’s not always the easiest but I enjoy taking him grocery shopping! He helps pick out produce and we learn colors and new textures that way too!