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8.01.2024

Kitchen Activities for Young Children: MyPlate Tips for Families

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:

• Wipe tables 
• Hand items to adult to put away (such as after grocery shopping) 
• Place things in trash 
• Tear lettuce or greens 
• Help “read” a cookbook by turning the pages
• Make “faces” out of pieces of fruits and vegetables 
• Rinse vegetables or fruits 
• Snap green beans

At 3 Years:

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

• Add ingredients 
• Talk about cooking 
• Scoop or mash potatoes 
• Squeeze citrus fruits
• Stir pancake batter
• Knead and shape dough
• Name and count foods
• Help assemble a pizza

At 4 Years:

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

• Peel eggs and some fruits, such as oranges and bananas
• Set the table
• Crack eggs
• Help measure dry ingredients
• Help make sandwiches and tossed salads

At 5 Years:

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

• Measure liquids
• Cut soft fruits with a dull knife
• Use an egg beater

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: 

• MyPlate Plan is personalized based on your age, height, weight, and other basic factors. It is available in English and Spanish.
• Start Simple mobile app lets you set daily food goals and track progress in real-time.
• Shop Simple tool offers cost-saving tips and suggestions for preparing delicious, healthy meals on a budget.
• MyPlate Quiz, available in English and Spanish, is a fun way to test your nutrition IQ and offers personalized resources based on your score.
• MyPlate Kitchen provides recipes and resources to support building healthy and budget-friendly meals. Nutrition analysis provided on recipes to help consumers choose recipes that meet nutrition goals. 
• MyPlate Alexa skill gives you healthy eating tips on your Amazon Alexa device or on your smartphone or tablet using the Amazon Alexa app.
• Food Group Quizzes test your knowledge of the 5 food groups.

First 5 Nevada Tools and Resources:

• See What You Qualify For – Use this simple screening tool to see what programs and services you and your family may qualify for, including food assistance programs such as WIC and SNAP.
• Featured Resource: Healthy Kids Resource Center at the UNR Extension – The Healthy Kids Resource Center is a one-stop shop for evidence-based research, resources, and more that focus on obesity prevention. 
• News and Articles – Learn more about how to help your family eat healthy and make the most out of your food budget. Visit the website to see a list of articles and sign up for our newsletter to receive up to date information, right in your inbox!

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