Cooking with kids: veggies, math and confidence

If you've ever tried to get a 7-year-old to eat salad, here's a research-backed trick: let them make it.

What the research shows

Kids eat more of what they make. In a 2014 study published in Appetite, researchers had 47 parent-child pairs (children aged 6 to 10) prepare a lunch. In one group the child cooked with the parent; in the other, the parent cooked alone. The kids who helped cook ate about 76% more salad and more of the chicken too. The study was run by researchers at the Nestlé Research Centre and was a single lunch in a lab, so it's a small, short-term result, but a striking one.

The pattern shows up in bigger surveys. A University of Alberta survey of fifth graders in 151 schools found that kids who helped cook at home had a stronger preference for vegetables. In Texas, a study of low-income Hispanic third graders found that children who always cooked with their families had higher vegetable preference and intake than those who never did.

The honest caveat: these surveys show a link, not proof that cooking causes healthier eating. Families who cook together may differ in other ways too. But the results point consistently in the same direction.

The kitchen is a classroom

Cooking also packs in a surprising amount of learning:

• Math: measuring cups, fractions, doubling or halving a recipe, telling time for the oven.
• Reading: following a recipe step by step.
• Planning: gathering ingredients, doing steps in order, cleaning as you go. A 2022 La Trobe University study found that kids who did more chores like making a meal for themselves or others had better working memory and impulse control (a link, not proof of cause).
• Confidence: feeding your family is a big deal when you're nine.

Kitchen jobs by age

Ages 6 to 8

• Wash fruit and vegetables
• Set and clear the table, wipe the counter
• Pour their own cereal and milk
• Make a sandwich or pack their own snack
• Help make a meal from prep to cleanup, with you leading

Ages 9 to 10

• Practice the claw grip with a kid-safe knife on soft foods, with a grown-up watching
• Peel vegetables, peeling away from the body
• Scramble eggs or boil pasta, with a grown-up in the kitchen
• Learn the burn and fire rules: handles turned in, where the fire blanket is

Ages 11 to 12

• Follow a new recipe from start to finish
• Clean as they go
• Plan three dinners for the week and write the shopping list
• Plan, budget, shop for and cook a family dinner

Safety first, every time

• A grown-up stays in the kitchen for anything involving the stove, oven or sharp knives.
• Pot handles turn inward, away from the counter edge.
• Soft foods and a kid-safe knife first, with the claw grip, before anything harder.
• Wash hands before and after handling food.
• Know the burn rule: cool a burn under cool running water, and get a grown-up.

Make it easy to say yes

• Pick one meal a week where your child is your sous chef.
• Let them choose the vegetable. Ownership helps.
• Lower your standards for neatness. Lumpy is fine.
• Make "done" clear: "The counter is clean, dry and has no crumbs."

The bottom line

Cooking with kids takes a bit longer and makes a bit more mess. In return you get kids who are more willing to try vegetables, who practice math and planning without noticing, and who feel proud to feed the family.

Find more ideas: life skills by age.