Seeing these pics of my friend Kelly’s adorbs family making the recipe from last week’s blog got me thinking about cooking with kids. My earliest and fondest memories are when my MiMi would baby-sit me and I would make cookies with her – I had to be no more than three years old! I LOVED making homemade pizza dough and meatballs with my mom – guess that’s how I got started as a chef! 🙂 Having cooked/baked many times with my niece Layla, I have a few tips to share.
There are so many benefits when you provide kids with cooking opportunities. Not only is it fun for them, but they will gain a sense of ownership. Cooking with kids from an early age helps instill the importance of nutrition and eating well-balanced, homecooked meals. It also allows them to be creative and strengthens various essential skills. Cooking helps kids improve their fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, reading, following directions, and basic math and science concepts. Most importantly, it helps them learn to be independent! And it can provide some great memories for you to cherish when they’re all grown up and out of the house! Who knows, maybe one day they will serve YOU a homecooked meal!
Here are some tips while cooking with the kiddos…
Recipe Choice
Pick an easy, hands-on recipe so the kids can really be involved. Try to pick a recipe that has limited use of the stove or oven. Recipes that involve a lot of mixing ingredients and stirring is always lots of fun for the kids. The more they can be involved, the more fun they’ll have and attentive they will be!
Premeasure Ingredients
The kids will quickly lose interest if they have to keep waiting for the adult to measure out ingredients. Instead, have the ingredients pre-measured, or better yet, have them help you measure the ingredients before the cooking begins. It will help force young kids apply their math skills, and the tots love scooping ingredients into bowls and measuring cups, so that’s half the fun for them!
Extra Ingredients
When cooking by yourself, you may be able to make do with “just enough” of each ingredient. However, when cooking with kids, be sure to have extra on hand as they are expert taste-testers! Especially if you are cooking with sugar, brown sugar or chocolate chips, those kiddos will be eating it so have extra handy! Another smart tip – have some made ahead of time. For example, if you are making cookies, make some ahead of time so the kiddos can enjoy some immediately. The cooking and cooling time can feel like an eternity if you have an impatient, hangry kiddo pacing around the house.
Cover up!
Be sure to have your kids wear a smock or an apron. Things are bound to get messy – and they should! This is their time to have fun and get creative, so you should actually encourage messiness. Expect a big clean up afterwards, but that could be minimized if your kids are covered up. (This tip came from Kelly, who apparently must have learned the hard way!)
Don’t expect perfection
Just remember, you are cooking with kids, so the process definitely won’t go perfectly. Items may not be mixed fully or measured exactly, but that’s okay. This is a fun learning experience for the kids and it’s more about the process of cooking than it is about the final product.
What recipes do you enjoy cooking with your kids? Comment below!
