Cooking and enjoying meals with your child is an excellent opportunity to learn and spend time together. Preparing food and dining together at home play a key role in helping children build healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. Balancing fun and quality time in the kitchen will help them better understand themselves and develop a healthy relationship with food. The more they learn about food, the more likely they are to try new dishes and maintain a healthy diet.
This cookbook provides easy and affordable recipes for you to make with your child. There are many natural learning opportunities for your child in helping to prepare meals. Start small and build their skills and confidence. Think of all the reading, writing, mathematics, science, communication and relationship skills that your child is developing through spending quality time together in hands-on learning around healthy eating. Notice how much they are learning, praise their efforts and celebrate how skilled they are becoming.
Cooking together builds family bonds and a sense of belonging which are core values of Welcome to Kindergarten.
If you would like to provide feedback on the Family Cookbook, please email
info@welcome-to-kindergarten.ca
Canadian Education Warehouse would like to extend our appreciation to all those who volunteered their time and expertise in providing guidance and feedback on the Welcome to Kindergarten Family Cookbook.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge:
If you believe in giving your child—and every child—a confident, connected, and joyful start to school, you’re not alone. Many parents like you have helped bring Welcome to Kindergarten™ (WTK) to their school or district by simply asking the right questions and starting the conversation.
Here’s how you can help make it happen:
Ask your child’s school if they offer the Welcome to Kindergarten™ program. If they don’t, you can:
Sometimes all it takes is one parent to spark change!
Many schools make programming decisions with input from parent councils. Bring WTK up at a meeting and share why it matters to you:
You can even offer to help organize or promote a WTK event in partnership with the school.
If your school seems interested but unsure how to proceed, encourage them to contact their school board or learning support team. School boards are often the ones who coordinate programs across multiple schools—and they may already be familiar with WTK!
You can also reach out yourself to your local school board’s early years or community engagement department and ask if they offer the program.
