Wouldn’t it be awesome to spend time baking with your kids this holiday season? Family time is so important even though it’s so hard to balance it all, but this can be a great little tradition for mom and kiddos, we should have started as soon as possible We should set a new goal this holiday season is to let go of all the mess and just have fun baking with my family.

There are countless benefits of cooking with kids, for you and for them such as spending time together, learning new things, and tasting your creations all while learning to cook. Cooking with kids is a great bonding exercise and helps build memories. Not only in school, It can also be fun English conversation practice for kids. Cooking is a great way to help your child improve their English language skills without them realizing it. Keep reading for tips for developing conversation skills for kids with cooking.

Cooking with the kids and having them help us is not only a great way for them to take care of their family later down the road, but it is educational for them too. MHIS  just made some great ways that will help you when cooking with kids. Some of them may seem common and sense, but I hope you find some that are useful

• Plan your menu and go shopping together for the ingredients

Choose a simple recipe that has a few ingredients and doesn’t require high-tech kitchen gadgets. Also, your child should be able to understand and follow the recipe easily. Here are some Menu ideas for you and your kids. This menu is actually made from our Development Class Mutiara Harapan Islamic School students:

• Ask Them Questions

1. Healthy Dimsum
2. Bread Milk Bath Pudding
3. Choco Lava Cake

Asking questions while cooking not only enhances their conversational skills but also improves their vocabulary skills. Ask them questions like these:  

1. What are we cooking today? Pizza? Cake? (let them decide & choose)
2. What toppings do you want for the pizza?
3. What flavor do you want for cake?
4. Where is the sugar?
5. Why do we add cheese for this?
6. When can we eat this cake? 
7. How do you roll this up?

Remember, language development is not only about talking. In Mutiara Harapan Islamic School we used to do comprehension and listening skills that are just as important! Thankfully, cooking enables your child to practice these skills and a lot more. You don’t need any fancy recipes or high-tech kitchen gadgets to cook with your child. All you have to do is talk about what you are doing, but let it not be a monologue. Speak slowly and clearly. Ask questions and give clear age-appropriate instructions, and wait for them to respond. Let them know that you’re listening to them. For example, if your child says, “I’ll pour the milk,” repeat what they said and expand on it as, “sure, you can carefully pour the milk in the bowl.” or you can build a deep conversation with the kiddos, ask them “how was school?” “how was you surah memorizing” and etc because it absolutely can make both of you closer and understanding each other 

• Ask  for help

A great way is to ask related cooking conversation questions. Give one or two-step instructions to your child. For example, give clear, age-appropriate instructions, such as “Pass me the sugar!” or “Bring me a spoon, please!” Ask your child to gather all the ingredients and tools sequentially according to the recipe. Encourage your child to read aloud to understand the sequence in the recipe. “First, we’re going to break the eggs in a large bowl, then add milk…..”

1. Chopping and Cutting

Start with softer foods, such as cheese or dough, that can be cut with a plastic knife or butter knife. When you’re teaching kids how to use a knife, tell them to go slowly and be careful. You can place your hands over your child’s hands to help.

2. Cracking Eggs

When kids are just learning, have them crack eggs into a separate bowl to make sure no bits of shell get in your recipe. Show your child how to tap the egg on the edge of the bowl to crack the shell, then gently pull the shell apart

3. Handwashing

Washing your hands is important, especially before eating or helping to make food! Check out this fun song where children show Zobey how to wash his hands the right way. Learn how to make animals with your hands to get every part of your hands clean!

• Make It a Game

“Everything is more fun when it’s a game, which is key to cooking with kids at any age,” says Tyler Lee. Use your favorite TV show, like Chopped or Sesame Street, to inspire a family cooking challenge. “Little ones love to imagine what their favorite characters would like to eat,” she says. There can be as much fun and creativity in imagining what to make for their favorite character as there is in cooking something for that character. “Invite little ones to think of a recipe that Cookie Monster would want to eat, or what Ernie would make for Bert,” suggests Tyler Lee. Simple recipes like Froyo Pops and smoothies are a good place to start because they’re quick, easy, and relatively low mess. Engage your preschooler by inviting them to organize and measure the ingredients, load ingredients into the blender, or count down the seconds while your smoothie is blending. 

• Cook Together

Cooking can provide teachable moments, especially when you choose to cook together. Math and science lessons are nestled inside every recipe and can bring joy if you seek them out together. “For preschoolers, measuring ingredients can be turned into a game of simple arithmetic. Middle schoolers or Primary can scale up or scale down a recipe, employing a little bit of simple division or multiplication,” advises Tyler Lee.

As for chemistry, the low-sugar recipes in Half the Sugar, All the Love can inspire conversations on our favorite topic: food science. Why does the texture of banana bread change when you take out the sugar? Have fun researching together with your kids—recipes can bring great conversations to life. If you’re trying to figure out how to keep your kids learning in this distance-learning environment, cooking can be a delicious way to do it. Beyond the lessons, there’s an additional silver lining. “We are all spending more time cooking these days, so why not turn it into an opportunity for some quality family time together?” says Tyler Lee. “It’s the blessing of this situation and a chance to turn a challenging time into positive memories for our kids.”

So what are you waiting for mom? Try now or never. 

Don’t forget to post your result and tag us on instagram @mutiara_harapan_islamic_school we can’t wait to see your best result!