Cooking Skills Practical Life Exercises Ideas

Cooking Skills Exercises for the Practical Life area, which can be presented as described below, or to augment your existing activities.  Choose from the related products to create your own activities or follow our recommendations:

Suggestions

1 Whisking

Whisk or Egg whisk, Bowl, Detergent, Tray

Sweep the table clean ready for wiping.

2 Juicing

Juicer, small glass, half orange, tray

Squeeze a small drink from the orange

3 Spreading

Butter knife, toast or crackers, spread (butter, jam, cream cheese, hummus, peanut butter etc) plate, tray

Make a snack

4 Cutting

Crinkle cutter, banana or carrot, chopping board, plate, tray

Depending on the child's abilities the food may need to be ready peeled. Cut into slices.

Extend the activity by including the peeling.

Eat a banana with knife and fork

5 Grinding

Pestle and mortar, items to grind (egg shells, grains, coriander seeds, dried lavendar, etc), spoon, containers, tray

Extend with a manual coffee grinder, salt mill or nutmeg mill

6 Rolling

Jar, biscuit dough or playdough, rolling pin, pastry cutter, chopping board, tray

Use a rolling pin to rollout dough on a board, then cut with a pastry cutter.

7 Grating

Grater, 2 bowls, tray [These items included by default] also needed: material to grate (stale bread, carrot, cheese, cork)

Grate the stale bread to make food for birds or crumbs to practice the table crumbing exercise.

8 Sieving

Jug, bowl, sieve, (non-dissolving items eg: pebbles, shells, plastic beads) sponge for drips, tray

Pour the jug through the sieve to separate water from shells.

A simpler activity can be sieving salt from grains of rice.

9 Nutcracker

Nutcracker, container of nuts eg walnuts or monkey nuts, bowl, tray

Ensure there are no nut allergies in your setting

10 Weighing

Scales, weights, items to weigh, large tray

Suggestions for additional items needed: cloths, sponge cloths, child safe detergent.

Of course, these are only suggested activities and you can mix and match the items as you wish. We'd love to see your own ideas.

Get inspired for alternative activities with videos and photos here.

PLEASE NOTE: This pack recommends real kitchen items not toys, some of which are made from glass. They are only for use under the supervision of an adult, and you should assess the risk posed each time they are used.