Kids love to cook. This is proved by the fact that almost all kids start to play the kitchen play, baking mud pies, cooking with toy pots and pans, tea parties, lunch, dinner etc. Moreover, kids take a delight in doing things that they see the grownups do, so, involving them in cooking activities will make them feel that they are being taken seriously. Cooking is an activity that depends on teamwork and involving kids with such activities will make them realize, early in life, the joys, trials, and tribulations of working in a team. Cooking is an art and kids tend to be very creative so this activity makes the kids explore their creative side. It is a great learning experience. For kids who are very choosy about what they eat, as most kids are likely to do so, involving them in cooking will make them take an interest in the food they eat. They would love to eat what they have cooked. Here are some cooking activities that you could look forward to enjoy with your kids.
How To Cook With Kids
- For starters involve the kids as helpers as they mostly learn by seeing and doing. Helping involves doing things like pouring, mixing, fetching things, peeling etc. This stirs up the interest in the kids and they are more likely to follow and observe what you do in the kitchen.
- Show him/her how to hold the knife, utensils, how to hold hot pans, and how to avoid spilling. Teach your kids the benefits of cleaning, the importance of hygiene, and how to maintain cleanliness in kitchen.
- Once your kid gets a basic understanding of the mysteries of a kitchen he/she can then be drawn in to do simple things like tossing a salad, breaking and mixing eggs, making sandwiches and fruit juices.
- Teach your kids to add ingredients. At first only those ingredients, which are pre-measured, must be given to the kids. Once they get a proper understanding of how much should go into which dish, can they be allowed to select and put their own ingredients. No doubt, this takes a lot of time and patience to teach. Adding ingredients is also a very creative exercise as kids can learn, through experimentation, how tastes are developed through a mixture of different ingredients. Make sure you make the kids taste what they have made as this will give them an idea of what is good and what is bad (i.e. the difference between delicious, tasty and bland).
- Kids love snacks and cookies so they would love to make these. First, show them how to make snacks by mixing dry fruits and cereals. Use different types of snacks and cereals and make the kid blend them. Let your kid experiment by mixing different types of ingredients according to his wish and try out the different tastes. To make cookies ( the baking part can come later), involve the kid in mixing flour, chocolates, nut and raisins, bringing into his/her notice the correct proportions in which the ingredients must be mixed and then making him/her pour the mix into small bowls for baking.
- Making ice creams is also very easy and kids can learn it very fast. Teach them how to whip up cream, but first show them how to hold the ladle and bowl so as not to drop and spill while stirring. Then show them how to pour it into a cast and keep for refrigeration.
- In the kitchen, take care to explain each and every nitty-gritty, showing all the interesting things that can be done.