Cooking classes are a relatively new and exciting modality for enhancing a child’s therapeutic journey. It can offer a student the opportunity to learn and grow in a manner that is extremely conducive to the learning style of a kid who needs hands-on experiences in order to retain and synthesize knowledge. This immersive experience can truly benefit a child in the long term and allow them to have fun while working on their learning struggles.
Cooking can be an excellent activity for a child who has difficulty with speech and language disorders. The necessary actions of performing tasks in a kitchen almost always include practicing effective communication. If communication is an area where a child has trouble, this experience can become a wonderful practice. Other difficulties with communication that can be improved through cooking as therapy are social learning capability, which requires a great deal of cooperation and teamwork. Cooking is an art and practicality that cannot be done without the implementation of team-based talk and expression.
Cooking can also help children to improve fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Kids who have traditionally struggled with coordination and using it to accomplish physical tasks find that the process of cooking aids their understanding of how to effectively harness good motor skills to produce a desired food item.
Decision making and planning behaviors can progress after children participate in cooking classes. Executive function is an essential quality for those who work together to cook, and children can enjoy an environment where there is a practical objective to achieve, instead of just a theoretical understanding of their executive function abilities.
Finally, as simple as it may sound, many teachers and parents connect their children with cooking opportunities to improve their sensory processing and even change their picky eating habits. It turns out that participating in preparing a meal makes one more predisposed to try it and give it a fair shake.
