Abstract: Young children often find it difficult to grip and control cutlery since they lack the muscle control possessed by adults. Accordingly, the piece of cutlery described is designed to make it easy for use by a young child and comprises a handle and an operative portion such as a spoon bowl, fork prongs or pusher. The handle is generally of round, barrel-shape for easy fist-like grasping by a small child and has a relatively flattened surface adjacent the operative portion for the ball of the thumb of the child to allow gripping and control of the piece of cutlery between the ball of the thumb and the four fingers grasping the handle. The longitudinal axis of the operative portion is turned in from the longitudinal axis of the handle so that when the handle is grasped, the operative portion is turned towards the body of the user.