“The cooking is not beyond the child’s ability but rather beyond the safety capacities of the tool” - User Interview Inspired by the Montessori teaching method, My Little Chef builds upon principles of independence and curiosity to enable safe explorative play in the kitchen. Unlike other products on the market, My Little Chef is specifically designed for cooking with heat, making it the perfect tool to teach your child how to flip their first pancake or cook a meal for the whole family to enjoy. With integrated safety features and clever design, My Little Chef is the perfect tool for the future chef in your life!

"Don't touch that! It's hot"

Kitchens have often been a place of anxiety in households with young children despite their eagerness to help. Constant fears of small fingers getting burnt or cut can make parents wary of engaging children in the cooking process. My Little Chef aims to create a safe environment for children to explore their passions while learning lifelong skills. Inspired by my personal education through the Montessori teaching method — a successfully proven educational approach that encourages both cognitive and physical development through involvement with practical life skills — I looked to understand how we can improve the way young children explore cooking with heat. Additional market analysis highlighted a unique opportunity to explore the specific interaction of cooking with heat due to the lack of existing products in the space. Despite the growing popularity of the Montessori method during the pandemic era of home education, product development has focused on smaller interactions such as chopping, peeling, and mashing. The limited existing designs demonstrate minimal consideration for safety features or intuitive interactions and lack versatile use or growth with the child. Further research conducted through user surveys as well as expert interviews shared insight into both the experience of the parent and child in the learning process. More specifically, I spoke with an anthropologist, and father of three, who has prioritized cooking in the household. With a direct connection to the Montessori Method, he elected to use a combination of teaching methodologies to interact with his children resulting in positive exploration in the kitchen space. His contribution clarified concerns relating to independence and fostering curiosity in a way that encourages children to explore safely. An additional interview with a fellow Montessori classmate of mine, now a professional chef with 10+ years of experience in professional kitchens, informed me of her struggles and triumphs of exploring cooking at a young age. Her insights led to explorations of complex concepts including relative heat, timing, and temperature setting. Through a variety of research methods, I synthesized my findings into three key values that embody the requirements and goals of the product. The first and primary consideration was safety, a necessity when introducing a product designed specifically for children. More specifically, I wanted parents to feel confident in their child's ability to play and explore safely without added concerns. The second value, intuitive, engaged the way that I wanted the child to learn from the product. Using a variety of sensory cues the child should be encouraged to pursue their curiosities independently. The third and final value, scale, explored two meanings of the word: size and complexity. In other words, the proportions of the product should make sense ergonomically for a child while the interactions should adapt in complexity as the child learns and improves their skills in the kitchen. With my goals clearly defined, I pursued a process of concept development including rapid visualization, ideation, feature exploration, and refinement. Alongside designing the key experiences of the product, I wanted to create a strong form identity that aligns with the sentiments of play, exploration, and curiosity. Initial ideation emphasized the Montessori aesthetic: real products made of raw materials (wood and steel) that are scaled to child size. This CMF is derived from providing the child with realistic and practical experiences. However, I quickly realized that not only did this approach lack the element of wonder and excitement, but also, the wood felt extremely out of place around heated elements. As a result, the final CMF pivoted towards using heat-resistant silicone on large rounded forms. The combination of the softened form language with the continued use of steel presented a feeling of both realness and function alongside a welcoming aesthetic. Additional indents on handles provided hand affordances while lightening up the visual language and creating a more refined appearance. Designed to grow alongside the child, My Little Chef includes four pieces: the base, the pot, the pan, and the griddle. Each piece in the set aligns with various dishes and skills such that the parent can introduce new concepts when they feel the child is ready (i.e. scrambled eggs or pancakes on the griddle at a low temperature for beginners, sautéing vegetables in the pan at a higher temperature for intermediates, and boiling water in the pot at a high temp for advanced). The cookware is fitted with silicone safety bumpers and an integrated locking mechanism that conceals the heated element while reducing the risks of spilling and knocking. Additionally, the larger scale of the product creates a checkpoint for parents to engage in the learning process. Furthermore, the dual-directional parental control, located on the back of the base, provides additional adaptability by controlling the max temperature of the heating element. In addition to adapting to the child's skillset, My Little Chef features an intuitive interface that encourages independent exploration. Fit with a temperature control knob that mimics induction stoves, the base also includes a live heat visualization to help bridge the feedback gap while setting the temperature. Lastly, a visual timer, based on ADHD timers helps your chef build both attention span and an understanding of cooking times. With safety built into the design, My Little Chef encourages your child to confidently play and experiment to their heart’s content!