Montessori Practical Life: pre-cooking skills

Hi! Today I want to give you a few ideas for pre-cooking activities that will improve your child's confidence and teach them a few valuable skills that they can then use in the kitchen.

They would be perfect for toddlers, or older kids who never participated in preparing meals before.


POURING:
Pouring is one of those things that children can help you with when cooking or baking. To practice this skill, you can set up a tray with two pitchers/ glasses/ jugs or bottles, and ask the child to pour the water from the right-hand container to the container on their left-hand side. If you want to, you can swap the water for tissue paper balls, rice or pom poms. If you are worried about your child using glass or china, provide them with plastic or bamboo containers. This activity will strengthen their hands, improve their visual-motor skills, and fine motor skills. Please give them a cloth to dry any spills. 


TRANSFERRING WITH TONGS:
If you ever read any of my activity guides on my website, you know that I always recommend this activity. It's a fun way to work on focus and expanding children's attention span, and it strengthens their hands a lot. Kids can transfer any small objects from one container to another using wooden or metal tongs. These can be vehicles, Lego, Lego Duplo, stuffed animals, wooden blocks, plastic animals. Spoons. Anything. 


SCOOPING:
Scooping is so much fun. Give your child a container with paper balls/pom poms/conkers/rice or pasta and an empty container. And a few tools: spoons (teaspoons, tablespoons, salad spoons), wooden scoops, handy scoopers. Anything that you have at home and that is safe for them to use. Ask your child to scoop these items using the tools provided and to transfer them to an empty container. 


CUTTING:
If you are worried about allowing your child to use a knife in the kitchen (I am talking about kids-friendly knives only), they can practice on playdough using a completely blunt playdough knife. This activity with boost their confidence, your confidence, and improve their grasp.


Thank you for your time today. Let me know if you found this article helpful. 
 If you need some more ideas on how to raise an independent and capable children, please check out the 'Practical Life' highlight on my Instagram Profile. Have an amazing day! 
Gosia x

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