Thanksgiving Jobs for Kids by Age: Real Tasks From Toddlers to Teens

Every child old enough to stand at a counter can help with Thanksgiving dinner. Toddlers can wash potatoes and tear bread for stuffing; 4- to 7-year-olds can measure, mash and whisk; 8- to 12-year-olds can peel, chop soft foods and follow a recipe; teens can take on a whole dish with an adult nearby. The grown-ups keep the jobs that involve the oven, boiling pots, sharp knives, raw turkey and the carving.

Here is how to share out the day so everyone has a real job, plus the few kitchen rules that keep it safe and calm.

Before anyone starts: five kitchen rules

Read these out loud before the aprons go on. They work best when kids hear them every time.

1. Wash hands with soap for 20 seconds before cooking, and again after touching raw meat or eggs.
2. Grown-ups handle the oven, the stovetop, boiling water, sharp knives and electric appliances unless they say otherwise.
3. Raw turkey stays with the grown-ups. Its juices can carry germs, so it does not get rinsed in the sink, and kids do not touch it or anything it touched until it is washed.
4. Pot handles turn in, toward the back of the stove, so nobody knocks them.
5. No tasting anything with raw egg or raw flour in it, which means no licking the pie-filling spoon. Raw flour and raw eggs can both carry germs.

Give each child a job that is properly theirs, from start to finish, rather than a little bit of everything. A finished dish they can point to at the table is the best part.

Toddlers (about 2 to 3)

Toddlers love jobs with their hands and big movements. Set them up at a low table or on a sturdy step stool with a grown-up right beside them.

• Wash potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots in a bowl of water with a vegetable brush.
• Tear bread into pieces for stuffing. Torn pieces work as well as cubes, and it keeps small hands busy for a long time.
• Snap the ends off green beans, if you show them where.
• Pour pre-measured ingredients into a bowl.
• Put rolls into a basket and napkins on the table.

What they learn: following one step at a time, and that food comes from somewhere before it reaches the plate.

Ages 4 to 7

This age can follow two or three steps in a row and loves measuring and mixing.

• Measure dry ingredients with cups and spoons, levelling them off with the back of a butter knife.
• Mash cooked, cooled potatoes with a potato masher, once a grown-up has drained them.
• Whisk eggs for the pie filling, in a big bowl so it does not splash.
• Crack eggs into a separate small bowl first, so shells can be fished out. Wash hands afterwards.
• Cut soft foods, such as bananas, cooked carrots or butter, with a child-safe knife or a butter knife. Our fruit salad with kids has more practice ideas for first knife skills.
• Arrange a turkey snack plate to keep everyone happy while dinner cooks.
• Make place cards, or draw a menu for the table.

What they learn: counting and measuring, careful pouring, and how mixing changes what is in the bowl.

Ages 8 to 12

Many kids this age can handle a whole simple recipe, with an adult close by for heat and sharp knives.

• Peel carrots and potatoes with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, peeling away from their hands.
• Chop celery and onion for stuffing with a small sharp knife, if they have already practised knife skills with you. Teach the bridge hold and the claw grip, and stay next to them.
• Make the cranberry sauce on the stovetop, with an adult in the kitchen the whole time. Cranberries pop as they cook, so long sleeves and a long spoon help.
• Roll out pie dough and crimp the edge.
• Mix and season the stuffing, and spread it in the dish.
• Set the table and plan where everyone sits.

What they learn: reading and following a recipe from top to bottom, timing, and using real tools carefully.

Teens

Teens can run a dish of their own, start to finish. Agree first on which steps they do alone and when they call you.

• Own a side dish: roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes or green beans, including the oven work, with oven mitts and an adult in the house.
• Make and bake the pumpkin pie, including blind baking the crust.
• Make the gravy from stock, whisking it smooth as it thickens.
• Check the turkey's temperature with a food thermometer alongside a grown-up. It is done when the thickest part of the breast, the innermost thigh and the innermost wing all read 165°F (74°C).
• Plan the oven schedule, so the stuffing, rolls and vegetables all fit around the turkey.

What they learn: planning several things at once, and working safely with heat.

Jobs that stay with grown-ups

Whatever a child's age, adults take care of:

• Putting the turkey in and out of the oven, and anything else heavy and hot.
• Draining pots of boiling potatoes or pasta.
• Carving the turkey.
• Using sharp knives to cut hard, round vegetables like squash.
• Handling raw turkey, and cleaning up after it.

A plan for a busy kitchen

Too many helpers in one small space is how spills and burns happen. A few things help:

• Set up stations away from the stove: a "washing station" at the sink, a "mixing station" at the table.
• Do the kid jobs the day before when you can. Pie, cranberry sauce, tearing bread and setting the table can all happen on Wednesday, and the kitchen is calmer.
• Have a cleanup job for everyone, too. Kids can wipe the table, load plastic bowls into the sink and sort recycling.

After the meal

Leftovers need to be in the fridge within 2 hours, which is a good job for older kids: spoon them into shallow containers and label them with the date. Then the Monday-after lunchbox is half made: our ideas for packing Thanksgiving leftovers for school lunch show how to keep them safe until lunchtime.

If your kids caught the cooking bug, a weekend pizza night where everyone has a job is an easy next project.