As the nights draw in and the trees lose their leaves, the distinct feeling of autumn is here. In my household, the excitement starts to build as the 31st of October approaches… what will the Halloween costume be this year, what sweets will be given out, and when are we making the cupcakes? Yes, Halloween cupcakes!
We started the tradition when my son was three and it has evolved over the years. Early creations involved smiling ghosts and Oreo cookie spiders. More recent versions have included bats, mummies and other creatures emerging from a chocolate grave. The joy I get as parent spending time with my child is immeasurable, as is the joy I have as a speech, language and feeding therapist thinking about all the language and mealtime learning that occurs as a part of parents and children spending time together in the kitchen.
Speech and Language Learning through Cooking
Learning becomes more meaningful when it happens in the real world, and the kitchen is a fantastic place to build on your child’s speech and language skills. You might be surprised at all the communication skills you can target while cooking together.
- Vocabulary – Cooking together naturally exposes your child to new words such as recipe, boil, measure, slice, chop, etc.
- Basic Concepts – Time in the kitchen together provides opportunities to introduce basic concepts including: hot/cold; full/empty; dirty/clean; wet/dry; big/little; heavy/light; shiny/dull; first/next/last; and more.
- Verbs – Cooking action words such as stir, whisk, pour, cut, heat, etc. can be practiced throughout your cooking activity in present, past and future tense forms.
- Following Directions – Cooking is a multi-step activity and you can use time in the kitchen to support your child’s ability to follow one-, two- and multi-step directions.
- Let’s get a spoon.
- Get a spoon and put it in the bowl.
- Get a spoon and put it in the bowl, then pour the milk in the bowl.
- Understanding and Answering Questions
- Who baked the cookies?
- Where is the cookbook?
- What did you use to mix?
- When do we turn on the oven?
- How many cupcakes did we make?
- How did we open the tin?
- Speech Sounds – Practice sounds your child has not yet mastered while cooking.
- /s/ – salt, soup, sauté
- /s/ blends – slice, steam, stir
- /l/ – liquid, lettuce, ladle
- ‘sh’ – sugar, chef, mash
- /r/ – roast, rice, ravioli
- Narrative Skills – Using narrative refers to a child’s ability to tell about a sequence of events in the correct order with a clear beginning, middle and end. When you finish cooking, have your child re-tell you the story of what you did in the kitchen together.
Mealtime Learning through Cooking
For children who enjoy eating as well as for those who struggle with eating or are ‘picky eaters,’ time around food in a no pressure environment, such as cooking, supports the development of skills needed to manage food at the table.
To help your child build positive food connections, when cooking together focus on:
- Sensory Exploration – Encourage your child to smell, touch, and look at the food without pressure to it eat. Use vocabulary such as soft, crunchy, firm, and colour words to describe what you feel and see.
- Being Okay with Food Mess – Cooking and eating are messy at times. Practice with food on hands and clothes while cooking helps children to be comfortable with food mess while eating.
- Food Choices – ask your child to decide what vegetable to serve with the evening meal and let your child wash, cut and boil or bake the vegetable in an age-appropriate way. You may even want to let your child plan the entire meal!
- Enjoying Time Together around Food – Part of building positive food connections is enjoying time around food. When your child has fun cooking with you, that supports their development of a positive association with food. Be silly, smile and laugh together while you create your tasty treat.
Happy Halloween and Happy Cooking with your Child!
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