Why preparing and sharing food is a good activity for children

Preparing a meal, snack or drinks for family or friends is a fun way for your child to practise turn-taking and sharing.

Learning to share is important for making and keeping friends and playing well with other children. But sharing can be a challenge, especially at first. Your child will need plenty of practice, guidance and encouragement.

What you need for preparing and sharing food with kids

A clean space to work in
Simple, healthy ingredients
Basic kitchen utensils, plates and cups

Kitchens can be dangerous places for children. Always supervise your child around hot surfaces and liquids, electrical appliances and sharp objects.

How to use this activity to help your child learn to share

Prepare the meal or snack with your child. Remind your child that you’re making the food to share. For example, ‘There are 5 of us. Do you think that’s enough strawberries for everyone?’
Ask your child to count the number of people, and help your child to divide food among plates or bowls.
If you’re serving at the table, remind your child of your family rules – for example, serve the oldest person or the birthday person first.
For finger food or plates of food like cookies, encourage your child to offer or serve the food to other people.
Encourage your child to think about fairness. For example, ‘Jun Jie, there’s only one piece of cake left, but Kimberly and Kumar both want it. What should we do?’

Food and recipe ideas to get you started on this activity

It’s good to involve your child in choosing the food to prepare and share. When you’re choosing, think about your child’s abilities, as well as how much time you have to prepare the food.

These ideas can get you started:

Fruit salad – choose soft fruits like bananas, strawberries and watermelon. These are easy for your child to cut with a safe knife. Help your child by peeling the fruit first.
Strawberry ice blocks – this recipe is great for hot weather. And you can vary it by using your child’s favourite fruits.
Carrot and oat mini muffins – this is a good choice for lunch boxes and snacks. Mixing and measuring the ingredients is fun and helps your child’s numeracy skills.
Easy pizza – your child might enjoy helping you put toppings on the pizza and serving it up for lunch or dinner. You can talk about who needs bigger or smaller serves.
Finger foods – your child can help you spread toppings on toast soldiers or arrange fresh or cooked vegetables on a plate for sharing.

How to adapt this food sharing activity for children of different ages

Younger children

Keep dishes very simple, so that your child can be involved in preparing and sharing food. If your child is still learning to share, your child might think the food is ‘theirs’ because they made it. You can gently remind your child that they made it to share.

Older children

Older children might be ready to take on more steps or prepare more complicated recipes, depending on their skills and experience. Your child might even help you prepare an evening meal sometimes.

How to adapt this food sharing activity for children with diverse abilities

There are many ways to adapt this simple sharing activity for children with diverse abilities.

Attention difficulties

Keep the activity short or prepare some ingredients beforehand. Your child could join in for 1-2 steps and take breaks when they need to.

Communication difficulties

Encourage your child to use their preferred communication method. Your child could point, gesture, sign, use pictures or symbols, or use a communication device to make choices and take part.
Offer simple choices, like ‘Banana or strawberry?’ and give your child plenty of time to respond.
Use simple words to describe what you’re doing together – for example, ‘Mix yoghurt’ or ‘Your turn’.

Fine motor skill difficulties

Choose tasks that match your child’s fine motor skills.
Give your child larger, pre-cut or pre-measured ingredients.
Encourage your child to use a large-handled spoon for stirring. Easy-grip utensils and non-slip mats can also help.

Organisation and planning difficulties

Break the activity into small steps, and do one step at a time. You could also use pictures, written instructions or a simple visual checklist to show your child what to do and what comes next.

For example:

Peel the banana.
Mash the banana in a bowl.
Add yoghurt
Mix.

Restricted mobility

Set up your spaces so your child and can reach everything comfortably without needing to move around the kitchen or carry food. They could sit down to prepare and serve food if they need to.

Sensory preferences and sensitivities

Reduce other sensory stimulation while your child prepares the food. For example:

Lower the volume or turn off background music and avoid flashing lights or screens.
Reassure your child that they don’t have to touch or eat the food.
Let your child use utensils or food-safe gloves if they want to avoid touching the food.
Choose textures your child enjoys.
Warn your child if there will be noisy appliances or strong smells. Let them step away if they want to.

You can get more ideas for adapting this activity from our articles on play and autistic children and play and children with disability. You might also like to explore our other activity guides. They can all be adapted to suit children with diverse strengths and abilities.