Kitchen Narration Little Helper

Kitchen items for a simple task (bowl, spoon, safe food items)

A high chair, learning tower, or low table for safe access

Set up your toddler safely in the kitchen — high chair, learning tower, or low table.

Choose a simple task: making oatmeal, washing fruit, or mixing a drink.

Narrate every action: "I'm opening the box. Open! Now I'm pouring the oats. Pour, pour, pour."

Let toddler help with safe tasks: stirring, dropping fruit in a bowl, tearing lettuce.

Name each item as you hand it over: "Here's the banana. Banana!"

Describe their actions: "You're stirring! Stir, stir, stir. Great helper!"

Use sensory words: "The water is warm. The apple is cold. Feel the difference?"

Ask simple questions: "Where's the spoon?" Celebrate finding it.

The kitchen is one of the richest vocabulary environments in your house. In a single cooking session, your toddler can hear action words (pour, stir, cut, mix), object words (bowl, spoon, cup), description words (hot, cold, big, little), and sequence words (first, then, next).

Don't worry about the mess. A toddler stirring oats will spill. That's part of the learning — and you can narrate the cleanup too: "Oops! It spilled. Let's wipe it up."

Give toddler their own set of utensils and a small bowl so they can mimic what you're doing. Parallel activity is a great language teacher.

This becomes a daily habit easily. Every meal prep is an opportunity. You're already in the kitchen — just add narration.