10 Tips To Make Cooking With Kids Easy and Fun

Kids are curious about everything you do, more specifically about the things that go on in the adult world and cooking is one of them. Children are very quick learners and are often eager too. So, once your kids reach an age of 4-5 years, you could start involving them in making your ‘daily bread’! Cooking with kids could be real fun for the kids and the parents as long as you take proper safely measures and involve the kids only in age-appropriate activities. So, as you gear up to receive extra small hands in the kitchen, here are some tips that could prove to be handy.

Little chef at home

Cooking with your little ones is a memorable experience. It’s not really about them learning as much as them bonding with you and their other siblings. Besides, it is an excellent way of spending quality time with the family.

1. Plan and procure the equipments and set-up necessary

Your kid may need a stool or bench to stand on so that the counter top height could be reached. You should also consider getting an apron for the little one so that the clothes are not soiled in the process of cooking. Cooking will be an educative experience for the youngster and so make sure you have the correct tools which the child can easily handle.

2. Emphasize on hygiene

To make sure that your child learns the right way of cooking, you should teach him/her cleanliness and hygiene. Do not skip any step of the hygiene process. Include washing of fruits, vegetables and your hands before starting work in the kitchen. Make washing hands into a fun but necessary ritual before any cooking session. How do you make washing fun though? you can use vanilla or chocolate scented hand-wash or any hand-wash that has an appealing scent or colour that attracts your kid.

3. Never compromise on safety

It will take some time before your child can start handling things cooking on a flame. Till that happens, let the children be involved only in segregating, cleaning, measuring and preparing the ingredients. Do not allow them to handle sharp knives. Even if the child is capable of handling the knife, let him/her cut only easy vegetables like boiled potatoes or fruits like strawberries which can be chopped even with a blunt knife. If you are adamant that your kid should actually learn to cook, use the electric stoves or inductions that are safe and do not have flames or anything to burn your kid. But, even for this your kid should at least be a ten year old.

4. Choose dishes which can be cooked in a ‘modular’ fashion

While cooking with youngsters, it would be a good idea to make sandwiches, salads, tacos, pizzas and desserts which can be assembled in various ways with different toppings. This gives the child some freedom and decision-making which will be really enjoyable. It will also give them sufficient ‘work’ in the food-preparation process. This would also go a long way in building your kid’s confidence and self-esteem.

#Tip: Encourage the kids even if they goof it up, let them learn by themselves.

5. Involve the child in meal planning

Before you get into the actual cooking, it would be a good idea to have your 6 year old with you in planning the actual menu. By this age, the kid would have formed some likes and dislikes. While cooking together, choose foods which the child loves. Slowly, you could also talk about nutrition and good-eating habits too. And this whole thing may change your little ones’ views towards bitter gourd some day (being little too optimistic?), you never know.

6. Give freedom and space

After involving the kids in several cooking sessions along with you, you could give them freedom and space in making one dish a week, pitching in only to make sure that all is fine. This will give confidence to the little ones and also the excitement of being responsible completely for a whole dish. Of course, if you smell something odd, you could step in!

7. Make cooking attractive

We all know that kids get bored easily and all work and no play is indeed boring! What do we do then to make the cooking attractive? Use interesting kitchenware of course! Use attractive and colorful kitchenware. It wouldn’t hurt to use colorful vegetables as well. Make then wear colorful aprons. In short make cooking seem as colorful as possible.

#Tip: Give your kitchen a clutter free and vibrant make over. All you need is few organizers and some colorful utensils of different shapes and sizes.

8. Work on favorites

What is better than the prospect of cooking food? Cooking the super-duper favourite food ! Remember, it is more about rousing the interest of child in cooking first and then making him a mini-chef later. Lure your kid into the kitchen with the prospect of teaching him to make the recipe that he/she so loves. Make it as if you are revealing some great secret. Tell him/her the reason for using a certain ingredient.

9. Change of venue

Who said you could only cook in a kitchen? We can cook outside as well, BARBECUE!!! it’s fun for you ells(ell Don’t let your kid anywhere near the BBQ grill but he /she can season the Barbecued food. Picnic and making sandwiches outside sounds fun as well. Toss a fruit salad and make lemonades…have fun outside with your kids and yourself!

#Tip: Use your backyard, garden, roof top for a change and set up your cooking station for a change. Barbecue party in the balcony is also not a bad idea.

10. Decorate the platter

Food is fun to cook when it is interesting to eat. The expectation of creating something that is curious to look at and wonderful to eat is the main reason a kid is interested in cooking in the first place. So, let them decorate the food. Create a pig out of the sandwich or drawing up pretty iced up roses on those cupcakes. The end result should look pretty (or maybe not, but you would have fun!!! guaranteed!). Enjoy watching your junior master chefs in making.