Whether your little ones are two years old or 12 years old, getting them interested in food and cooking is a valuable lesson in life. The more they’re exposed to new foods and ways to prepare them, the more adventurous they’ll become when it’s time for dinner, and they’ll grow up to become confident in their ability to prepare delicious dishes. None of us wants our children to fly the nest unable to prepare something as simple as beans on toast, so below, we’ve put together some tips on getting your young children involved in cooking right now.
Make it good fun
Perhaps one of the simplest ways to get your kids excited about cooking and food is to make it fun. The chances are that they’re already itching to bake a cake or stir some pots and pans when you’re preparing their dinner, so get them involved in a safe and enjoyable manner. By exposing them to different cooking methods as a young child, you could ignite their spark for cooking and demonstrate that preparing nutritious, wholesome meals can be enjoyable. The easiest way to do this is to make something they really want to eat - check out our recipes for kids and prepare something cool like chocolate cornflake cakes as an afterschool treat.
Our free recipe cards are a great way to help your little ones develop their reading skills as well as their cooking skills. You can ask them to look through the recipe card, read out the steps one by one, and follow them together. You’ll soon develop their confidence in the kitchen and they’ll want to help prepare all sorts of dishes - you’ve found a free sous chef!
Start them off young
Okay, let’s get one thing clear: you’re not going to get a two-year-old to prepare a Crème Brûlée any time soon, but there are ways that you can get your young children involved in the kitchen without worrying about their safety. The key is to break down fun tasks and activities and ensure they’re supervised at all times. For example, a two-year-old can rinse fruits and vegetables in the sink before you chop them, and fetch ingredients from one side of the kitchen to another. As they get older and their interest in cooking grows, you can set them off on more complex tasks - four-year-olds might be capable of kneading dough when baking bread, for example; five-year-olds might want to set the table with plastic plates.
There are no hard and fast rules, here: you know your child better than anyone else, so use your judgement when deciding which activities are suitable for them. Typically, kids tend not to use knives until they’re between five and seven - when they do, make sure you’re only letting them use butter knives and make sure they’re supervised at all times to keep them safe. Base all of your activities on your child’s maturity level and feel free to experiment, too!
Think about learning
At every opportunity, cooking should be used as a chance to teach your kids. For example, you can conduct simple science experiments in the kitchen - things such as rock candy, where you add sugar to boiling water to create a gloopy mixture that turns into rocks or crystals - can be lots of fun and allow you to explain concepts. Counting is also important - learning how to count cupcake cases, measure out ingredients, and use a timer can all be useful, and asking your little ones to keep a diary or recipe book of the foods they make can also be good. You can explore colours by organising food into piles and playing around with different fruits and vegetables to find out what your little ones enjoy, explaining where each comes from. Your kids will naturally become inquisitive and want to learn more about the foods they’re eating - this will benefit your little ones at home and in the classroom, too!
Practice good habits
Spending time with your children in the kitchen is also an opportunity to practice good habits and help them become well-rounded human beings. Perhaps one of the most important is cleaning up after themselves. By all means, make a mess in the kitchen with water and flour, but explain why it’s important to tidy up as you go along and show them techniques to clean up. They’ll soon realise that wiping down counters and cleaning the dishes are part of the cooking process and it’ll save time once you’ve finished cooking, too. There are lots of other habits you can teach, too, like remembering to wash hands before preparing food, saying please and thank you when asking for ingredients, and being hygienic by using a spoon to taste ingredients rather than sticking a finger in the mixture. In time, these habits will become the norm for your kids.
Avoid too much sugar
Whilst it can be tempting to work your way through a Mary Berry recipe book and create lots of delicious sweet treats, it’s important that you get kids involved in preparing healthy meals, as well as fun desserts. If your kids think every cooking session involves chocolate, sugar and sprinkles, they’ll be less likely to engage when you ask them to make a fruit salad or a risotto. Find ways to turn fun cooking experiences into a lesson on maintaining a balanced diet, and consider swapping out ingredients where possible to get more fruit and vegetables into their diet. Replacing butter with coconut oil, eggs with chia seeds, and sour cream with tofu is simple and ensures they’re getting the goodness and nutrients they need to thrive.
Do you have any other tips for getting the kids involved in the kitchen? Let us know and check back soon for the latest on the Everything’s Rosie website.