WIC - Kids in the Kitchen

Helping in the kitchen can be fun. Kids:
• See how meals are put together
• Learn from the hands-on experience
• Feel good about themselves because they are helping out

Kids who help prepare a food are also more likely to eat it.

Start with simple dishes with fewer than five ingredients.

Choose a time when you are not rushed and your child is well-rested.

Your preschooler can watch what you're doing and help out with small tasks.

Kids like stirring, pouring and adding ingredients.

Be sure to compliment your child on a job well done!

LOOK for this handprint in the recipes.
These are areas where children can help.

Safety is Important!

Children need supervision when they are in the kitchen. Preschoolers must learn not to touch whirring electric beaters, hot pans and stove tops.

Here are some safety tips:
• Give frequent reminders about what's OK to touch and which items can hurt them.
• Talk about which kitchen tasks are for grown-ups and which are for kids.
• Establish kitchen rules, such as washing hands and not touching stove knobs or knives.
• Keep chairs and step stools away from the stove.
• Place all pot handles on the stove inward or use back burners so children can't reach them.
• Store knives, forks, scissors and other sharp tools in a drawer with a childproof latch.
• Store glass objects and appliances with sharp blades out of reach.