Cooking with toddlers: safe ways to get them involved

Why cook together

Cooking with a toddler is messy and slow, and it’s worth it now and then. The AAP says that touching food while cooking, by kneading dough, rinsing vegetables or tearing lettuce, helps hesitant eaters get comfortable with new textures, and that smelling a food can be a first step before tasting it. The USDA adds that children are less likely to reject foods they’ve helped to make.

There’s no need to get your child to taste anything. Helping is enough. If your toddler is a choosy eater, see picky eating in toddlers.

Keep it short and pick a time when neither of you is tired or hungry. Five minutes of stirring counts.

Set up before you start

• Wash hands together. Use soap and running water and scrub for at least 20 seconds, including the backs of hands, between fingers and under nails (CDC). Wash before, during and after preparing food, and always after touching flour, raw eggs or surfaces they’ve touched (CDC).
• Bring the work to their level. A low table works well, or a step stool or kitchen helper tower at the counter if you use one. Stay within arm’s reach the whole time and keep their spot well away from the stove. The AAP says to always supervise children when cooking.
• Clear the danger zone. Keep knives, scissors and other sharp tools apart from the “safe” utensils, and store food processors and other sharp appliances out of reach (AAP). Don’t let electrical cords dangle where a toddler can pull them (AAP).
• Put cleaning products away. Keep strong cleaners, dishwasher soap and detergent pods in a high, locked cabinet, out of sight, and never put them in containers that look like food or drink (AAP).
• Give them their own tools: a bowl, a wooden spoon, a plastic cup, a potato masher.

If your child is too young to help, the AAP suggests keeping a drawer or box of safe play items in the kitchen to keep them busy nearby.

Jobs toddlers can do

Children develop these skills at different ages, so follow your child’s lead. The USDA’s examples:

Around 2 years

• Rinse fruit and vegetables under running water, with your help
• Tear lettuce or other leafy greens
• Snap green beans
• Wipe the table, and put things in the trash
• Hand you items to put away

Around 3 years (everything above, plus)

• Add ingredients you’ve measured
• Stir batter, then hand the bowl back to you (raw batter is never tasted: see below)
• Scoop or mash cooked potatoes or other soft food, once it has cooled
• Squeeze citrus fruit
• Help put toppings on a pizza

The USDA lists cutting soft fruit with a dull knife at around 5 years. Until then, knives stay with the adults.

The AAP says the best way to keep cooking safe is to know your child’s abilities and stage of development, and to always supervise.

Heat and burns

Hot liquids, the stove and the oven can all cause serious burns in young children (AAP).

• Keep toddlers away from the stove, oven and kettle. Do the hot steps yourself while your child watches from a safe spot.
• Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove, so a child can’t grab them (AAP).
• Never carry hot liquids and your child at the same time, and know where your child is before you move a pot of boiling water (AAP).
• Don’t leave food cooking on the stove unattended (AAP).
• Microwaves: never let your child open the microwave or take out food that’s just been heated (AAP). Stir microwaved food well or let it stand so the heat spreads evenly (AAP).
• As children get older, show them how to hold kitchen tools safely and use oven mitts (AAP). For toddlers, hot pans stay with the grown-ups.

If your child gets burned

1. Cool it straight away under cool running water for 20 minutes (NHS). The AAP says to run cool water over it long enough to cool it and relieve the pain.
2. Take off clothing or jewelry near the burn, unless it’s stuck to the skin (NHS, AAP).
3. Cover it loosely with a clean, dry cloth (AAP). The NHS says you can lay cling film over it, but don’t wrap it around.
4. Don’t use ice, butter, grease or powder, and don’t rub the burn (AAP).

Call your pediatrician or GP for anything more than a small, superficial burn, or if redness and pain last more than a few hours (AAP). Burns on the hands, mouth or genitals need medical attention straight away, and the AAP says burns on the face or feet, over a joint, or all the way around a limb may need hospital care. In the UK, call NHS 111 if you’re not sure what to do (NHS).

Call 911999your local emergency number (such as 112 in Europe or 000 in Australia) or go to the emergency department if the burn is very large or deep, is on the face, genitals or bottom, or was caused by electricity, an acid or a chemical (NHS).

No tasting raw dough or batter

This is the one kitchen rule that applies to the whole family.

• Raw flour can carry germs such as E. coli and Salmonella. Grinding and bleaching don’t kill them; only baking or cooking does (CDC). The CDC and FDA say not to eat or taste raw dough or batter, including cookie dough, cake mixture, pancake batter and pizza dough.
• Raw eggs in dough or batter are a second risk (CDC). The CDC lists raw cookie dough and raw batter as riskier foods for children under 5.
• No licking the spoon or the beaters. Put the batter bowl and spoon out of reach once your child has finished stirring.
• No play dough made with raw flour. Even if children don’t eat it, they may put their hands in their mouths after handling it (FDA). The CDC says the same for crafts made with raw flour, such as homemade play dough or holiday ornaments.
• After handling dough, wash your child’s hands, and your own, with soap and water, and wash bowls, utensils and counters in hot, soapy water (CDC).

If you want a no-bake job, try washing and tearing lettuce, or mashing a cooked sweet potato. See food safety at home for the rest of the clean, separate, cook and chill steps.

Watch what goes in their mouth

Toddlers taste as they go. Only leave foods within reach that are safe for your child in that form.

• Don’t leave pieces of hard raw vegetables or fruit (like raw carrot or apple), uncut grapes or cherry tomatoes, nuts and seeds, or spoonfuls of nut butter within reach (CDC).
• Have your child sit down to eat anything, rather than snacking while standing on a stool (CDC).
• Keep raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs away from your child, and wash your hands after handling them.
• Know what to do if your child chokes: see choking first aid.

See choking hazards and safe food sizes and shapes.

Where US and UK advice differs

• Raw eggs. The CDC lists raw or runny eggs, and raw cookie dough and batter, as riskier for children under 5. The NHS says hens’ eggs with the red British Lion stamp are fine raw or lightly cooked for babies and children, but says to avoid uncooked cake mixture made with eggs that aren’t Lion-stamped. Raw flour is a risk either way, so the no-tasting rule stays.
• Burn first aid. The NHS gives a time: cool running water for 20 minutes. The AAP says to run cool water long enough to cool the burn and relieve the pain.