5 Creative Ways To Involve Your Children With Cooking
Our children are always looking for ways to be like us. We’ve all seen them proudly mowing the lawn with their Fisher-Price toy mower. Learning to drive with their Flinstones esque foot powered Little-Tikes toy car. And baking for all with their Easy Bake oven and powder mix.
They just want to be involved, and learn from you. So I encourage you to make them a part of these monumental moments in life, especially when it comes to cooking! You don’t have to be a top chef to bring your little ones on board to help with dinner. They don’t care about that. All they care about is fueling their curiosity, learning, having an ounce of responsibility, and being a part of the action.
Here are 5 creative ways to get your kids involved with preparing family dinner, and increase your productivity as a result:
Jump In The Sink & Scrub
Ok, they aren’t literally going to jump in the sink, but your kids can be pretty darn good veggie and fruit washers. Get out the stool and show them how to thoroughly wash the fruits and vegetables. Remind them to wash their hands first though! This is an easy task that doesn’t involve sharp objects for the really little ones, and gives them a sense of purpose. They know when they’re actually being productive, or not. So let them be productive.
Throw Stuff In a Bowl
I’d be willing to bet your kids are awesome at putting stuff in a bowl. As you measure ingredients, keep your little chef near by and let them dump the ingredients in the bowl. Kids love to make messes, and this is as close to making a mess as they can get with your permission. What kid doesn’t like dumping a bunch of random stuff in a bowl? You control the portions, and there’s no wrong way to do it (unless they completely miss the bowl). If that happens, just laugh it off and act more as a guiding hand on the next try. For the older ones, let them do the mixing too!
Be The Magical Time Keeper
While you’ll likely need to be the official time keeper, let them believe they are. And make it fun! Turn it into a mystical game and show them how the food changes with time as it cooks. Take it a step further and tell them why the food changes with time as it cooks. For example, tell them why the cookies are rising, why the cheese is melting, or how the noodles go from hard to soft. Emphasize the importance of their job with keeping time, because if they don’t the food can go bad. They’ll love knowing they have such an important task.
Taste To Perfection
This will likely be their favorite part, so make it a treat! If they feel like stopping half way through cooking, give them incentive to keep going by telling them they need to taste the food before anyone else to make sure it’s absolutely perfect. This shows them you value their opinion and it keeps their interest.
Top it Off
Give your little chef the privilege of adding the final topping, be it cheese, crumbs, frosting and other good stuff like that. You know you secretly love doing it, and if you do, they do too. It’s in their nature. Every little kid likes to sprinkle or spread tasty goodness on food. It’s their artistic side coming through, so let it shine.
While teaching them along the way may not be the most time effective way to cook from the start, when they catch on they will increase your productivity all while giving you and them valuable memories to hold on to. They’re going to grow up too fast, so any opportunity you can find to spend time with them is worth it. Plus, you never know if you’ll inspire a new passion and direction in life for your children. They just may enjoy cooking a little more than you anticipated. Then you’re set! They cook and you sit back and relax.
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