Recipes You Can Try With 3-5 Year Olds

At this level, children can begin to hone their fine motor skills through measuring, spooning, scraping, and stirring. Get them to measure ingredients without spilling and to scrape the bowls well to avoid waste.

This is a great opportunity to show them how to follow a recipe and develop their language and communication. Show them how to do things in sequence by following instructions carefully.

Try to introduce some basic math, which can be as simple as adding two eggs, x cups of flour, etc…

They have the dexterity to help roll the dough, and cut and move shapes to baking trays. You can have them break up chocolate into pieces if the recipe calls for it (or not), and don’t worry if a few go missing! Once the mixture is prepared, your child can assist with getting the product ready to bake. As they improve, you can even have them do many of the steps themselves with minimal supervision.

You can try to further instill a clean-as-you-go mindset and have them put things away when you’re done with them—like throwing away eggshells and used cartons, and putting away dirty mixing bowls.

At the end of the lesson, talk through the clean up steps as to what you should do first: should you put away the flour, stack the dishes, or wipe the counter? Develop a routine that they can learn to do automatically. You’ll be grateful you did!

And for the final reward: eat!

Try to involve your child in as many steps as you can, particularly when it comes to measuring, pouring, mixing, or stirring the ingredients.