6 Basic Knife Skills Activities

Knife Skills Worksheets and Activities

Teaching basic knife skills to middle school and high school students is one of the trickier parts of teaching kids how to cook. It definitely takes time and is not for the faint of heart! Read on for some fun and engaging knife skills activities. These basic knife skills activities are great for culinary arts and family consumer science.

“Having sharp, great knives will enable you to cook very precisely. Knife skills are essential in cooking.” said famous chef Eric Ripert. The problem is, you can’t hand a student a sharp knife a the beginning of the learning process in the culinary arts.

Knife skills are something that needs to be taught at the beginning of the semester so that students are ready to complete cooking labs. Using salt dough is another way to have students practice knife skills.

Here is our free salt dough recipe that we use in our classroom!

We use this knife skills lesson to introduce basic knife skills and knife cuts.

It is not a bad idea to start with plastic knives with younger students. Some people have secondary students start with plastic knives, but my philosophy is that they should start with real knives and a lot of coaching.

1- Coach students individually or in small groups

Giving students as close to individualized instruction as possible with knife skills is a great way to get them up and cutting. Practice and coaching have worked well, guiding them to the correct knives for specific foods. You can also set up stations where groups of students are doing different activities so that you can rotate your attention. For instance, some groups can be working on the guided notes while you are working with the cutting group.

Another example would be:

• group 1 can be working on a worksheet or bell ringer journals.
• group 2 can be completing a Webquest on a cooking topic and
• group 3 can be working with you on learning to cut a vegetable properly.

2- Have students make a homemade salt dough

Salt dough is a great way to reduce the amount of wasted ingredients. Students can continue to practice for days with the salt dough that they made (or you made). Another idea is to cut vegetables such as carrots or celery to show their understanding of knife cuts. Use the knife cuts guide to help them practice the different cuts. They can place their salt dough cuts or vegetables on the chart.

Put the knife cuts guide in a laminate sleeve for reuse and easy cleaning!

If your students are beginners, these lettuce knives are helpful to help them start cutting without the risk of injury.

3- Use videos to help reinforce the concept.

Videos can be a great start for students so that they can visualize what the cut will look like. This video above is a Julienne cut video we made for our knife skills lesson plan.

Here is another excellent video about the “claw” hold when teaching students to use a knife.

4- Use a ready-made lesson plan

We have lessons and activities that include lessons with vocabulary and drag-and-drop knife parts. We made a knife skills lesson all about this to introduce types of knives, parts of knives, and knife skills. It includes a slide deck, guided notes and activities. Check it out by clicking the picture below. It is in Google form.

• Familyandconsumersciences.com has great ideas to set up using playdoh if that is the route you would like to take to introduce the topic. Middle school students may need to start with something like plastic knives and playdoh before moving on to real knives and food.

Knife Skills Lab Ideas

During the early school year, our students enjoyed making these:

5- Mini fruit pizzas

Have students make something delicious while practicing their skills cutting strawberries, blueberries, and any fruit of your choice. We substituted the limeade for vanilla extract.

6- Ramen Challenge–

Kids love a good challenge and this is a basic lab that brings tons of fun and practice with knife skills. Students get a pack of cheap ramen and choose ingredients to add to it to make a “gourmet Ramen” dish. They can chop celery, onions, carrots, and other ingredients to make it delicious. This can also be a great lesson on setting up their mise en place.

Kitchen Knife Safety Tips

It is obviously important to teach your student’s kitchen knife safety tips such as:

1. Keep your knives sharp: Dull knives require more force to cut through food, increasing the likelihood of slippage and injury. Use a sharpening stone or a knife sharpener to maintain a sharp edge.
2. Use a cutting board: Never cut food items in your hand. Always use a sturdy cutting board to prevent the knife from slipping and to protect your hands.
3. Hold the knife correctly: Always grip the handle firmly and keep your fingers away from the blade. Use your thumb and forefinger to guide the blade while slicing or chopping.
4. Cut away from your body: Always cut away from your body to avoid injuring yourself in case the knife slips or you lose control of the blade.
5. Store knives safely: When not in use, store knives in a knife block or on a magnetic strip, away from the edge of the counter or other surfaces where they could be accidentally knocked off.

Grab our free knife skills packet, which includes five recipes and reflection questions to help students practice their knife skills. The best part? It’s editable!

Another culinary food lab for teaching knife skills is salsa. Students can choose their ingredients and create a delicious salsa while practicing cutting tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and more. We have a salsa worksheet if you would like to introduce salsa with background knowledge and a recipe.

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