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Young children love role play and you can use their natural curiosity about cooking as a chance to interact.
Encourage them to prepare you an imaginary 'meal' and see where the conversation goes, just like the family in the video below.
Why play chefs with your child?
- Playing in the kitchen inspires children's imaginations.
- Pretending to be a chef offers them lots of opportunities to learn new words about cooking and food.
- Acting out everyday routines can help reinforce their understanding of these routines.
- Pretend play is a great opportunity for you to follow your child's lead in play and model new words for them.
- Talking about food that's special to your family will help children to learn about their heritage.
Top tips for playing chefs with your child
Pretending to carry out activities that adults do, such as cooking, provides lots of opportunities for talking.
Ask your child simple questions, for example 'I wonder what鈥檚 for dinner?' Give a long pause to see if your child will respond.
Make sure to mix up your questions with comments as well. Repeat what your child says back to them and add a word. For example if your child says 鈥榗ake鈥, you might say 鈥榤mm, I love cake鈥.
Get out some child-friendly kitchen items for them to play with, like small pots and pans, wooden spoons, mixing bowls and plates.
Describe what they're doing using action words like 'mixing' and 'stirring' and 'frying'. Or you could use words for sounds like 'sizzle'.
Encourage them to make the sounds as their food is 'cooking'.
Language learning through everyday routines
Routines are a perfect opportunity to help build your toddler's language skills. Check out the list below for more inspiration on how to make magic out of your mundane tasks:
- Getting ready to leave the house is a great opportunity to chat about clothes and build their independence.
- You could try playing pretend washing up games so children can learn a bit more about adult routines.
- If you have a younger child, your toddler could help you with their nappy changes.
