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8.01.2024

Kitchen Activities for Young Children: MyPlate Tips for Families

Three young kids in a home kitchen helping with some basic cooking.

Get your preschooler to try new foods by having them help you in the kitchen. Kids feel good about doing something “grownup.” Give them small jobs to do. Praise their efforts. Best of all, children are less likely to reject foods that they help to make.

As preschoolers grow, they are able to help out with different tasks in the kitchen. While the following suggestions are typical, children may develop these skills at different ages.

At 2 Years:

At 3 Years:

All that a 2-year-old can do, plus:

At 4 Years:

All that a 3-year-old can do, plus:

At 5 Years:

All that a 4-year-old can do, plus:

Tools provided through MyPlate and First 5 Nevada can help families get the support and resources they need to support healthy development!

MyPlate Tools and Resources: 

First 5 Nevada Tools and Resources:

Information and images about the “MyPlate” program were retrieved from https://www.myplate.gov/ and are attributed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.




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