11/06/2026
How to Practice Following Directions While Cooking With Your Child
Cooking together is more than just a fun family activity—it’s also a great opportunity to build your child’s listening and language skills. Recipes naturally provide opportunities to practice following directions, sequencing, vocabulary, and concepts such as first, next, before, after, and last.
Start with simple, one-step directions that your child can easily follow, such as “Get the bowl,” “Pour in the flour,” or “Stir the mixture.” As your child becomes more comfortable, try adding two- or three-step directions, such as, “Get the spoon, put it next to the bowl, and then stir the batter.”
Cooking is also a great way to practice sequencing. Ask your child questions like, “What do we do first?” “What comes next?” or “What do we do after we add the eggs?” After you finish cooking, encourage your child to tell you the steps of the recipe in their own words.
You can also use cooking to build vocabulary. Talk about words such as mix, pour, measure, sprinkle, ingredients, bowl, spoon, oven, and recipe. Cooking also provides opportunities to practice concepts like more and less, full and empty, hot and cold, and big and small.
You don't need to make cooking feel like a speech therapy session. Simply involve your child in age-appropriate kitchen tasks and talk through what you are doing together. If a direction is difficult, break it into smaller steps and provide support before trying again.
The next time you're in the kitchen, let your child be your little chef and turn a simple recipe into a fun opportunity to build communication skills!
~~ Aine Derrig
