Cutlery Skills for Children
Cutlery Skills
Cutlery skills are an important skill for children to learn, not only for the co-ordination and independence it promotes, but also because it supports social inclusion. Learning to use cutlery is a common difficulty for children with particular difficulty around using a knife and fork together.
When using cutlery, it is important to remember to first support good posture for mealtimes:
Supporting upright posture allows for the child to use their hands freely for eating. Ensure the child’s seating supports 90 degree angles at the hips, knees and feet and adequate back support.
When seated, ensure that the child has their feet supported and they can comfortably reach the table.
Ensure that the elbows are tucked in and try not to allow the student to raise them out to the sides of his body. This provides stability.
Knife and Fork
Holding cutlery
Ensure the knife is in the dominant hand, and the fork is in the non-dominant hand.
Support the student to position his or her index fingers along the shaft of the fork and knife – see right.
It may be required that an adult give modelling or hand over hand support to correctly achieve this position.
Cutlery with built up or curved handles can help with grasp and correctly holding the cutlery, for example Caring cutlery and Kura cutlery. These have thicker handles and indentations to ensure index fingers are correctly positioned on the fork and knife.
Built up cutlery can be purchased from a range of sources such as:
Caring cutlery (adult size) - https://www.aidacare.com.au/products/daily-living-aids/cutlery/caring-cutlery/
Kura cutlery (children size) – https://doability.com.au/kura-care-children-s-cutlery
The occupational therapist can advise which cutlery size is recommended.
Using cutlery together
Ensure that the child is holding the cutlery correctly, as above
First “stab” the food with the fork to hold it in place
Next place the knife next to the fork and “saw” with the knife backward and forwards in a sawing motion.
Use consistent language to prompt the child when learning for example “stab with the fork” then “saw with the knife”.
This skill can be practiced outside mealtimes using putty or play-doh.
Initially start with soft foods, such as banana, cooked carrot, pieces of melon, cooked potato, fried egg, pasta and pancakes.
When learning to use cutlery, make it more manageable by practicing with a few cuts at each mealtime and increase this over time.
