May 2025 Blog: Stimulating Sensory Development in the Kitchen

A caregiver at feeding time: “Here comes the airplane!” A three-year old asking: “Why is a peach fuzzy?” A five-year old blowing on a spoonful of hot soup. A seven-year old stirring cake batter as an adult cracks eggs into the bowl. 

The kitchen is a place rich in opportunities to nurture and develop at least eight of our senses. Many of us were taught that we have five senses – sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. However, modern research has shown that we have many more senses!   

As I prepare each month’s lessons for Kitchen Creations, I take stock of the different developmental and learning standards that we could focus on while considering which tasty ingredients to explore.  

For example, during our Mouthwatering Mosaics month,  

  • children saw examples of mosaics (vision),
  • strengthened their fine motor skills as they used a bear claw to chop their fruit (proprioception),
  • counted to ten as the hand mixer combined yogurt and cream cheese (chronoception),
  • covered their ears if the mixer was too loud (auditory),
  • explored the differences in temperature and texture between the oranges, kiwi, and watermelon (touch/temperature),
  • used a spatula to gently spread a mixture onto a graham cracker (vestibular), and
  • tasted their beautiful mosaics!

At home and at school, you too can create opportunities for children to support their sensory processing needs.  

You can stimulate vocabulary and language development by talking to them about the food that you are preparing and eating together.  

  • “Look at the red and green on this apple! I hope it will be sweet and crispy”
  • “We tap the egg gently on the counter to crack it for our pancakes; otherwise, it will be a goopy mess!”
  • “Wow, that lemon is sour!”

Provide opportunities for children to safely explore tools.

Examples:

  • Children can use a spatula in a plastic or lightweight metal bowl to practice rotating their wrists and forearms. 
  • Holding a child’s hand in yours while you use a butter knife or crinkle cutter for them to understand changes in pressure.

Turn routine sights and sounds into playful learning experiences. 

Examples:

  • Count the beeps of the microwave when it finishes heating something up. “Do you see that steam? That means our food is hot. Let’s blow on our spoon 5 times before we take a bite.” 

Kitchen Creations is a seasonal program that runs from Spring to the Fall. Stay tuned on our website and social media for program dates and times. 

Happy cooking, and see you at the Museum!

– Abby Ildefonso, Manager of Education 

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