Kids in the Kitchen
Teaching kids how to cook not only helps them learn healthy eating habits but it’s a fun way to build skills that will last a lifetime. Our kiddos have always enjoyed helping bake holiday goodies or a sweet treat here and there but recently our eight year old decided he wanted to start cooking meals regularly. We started by letting him make a few easier recipes over the holidays, like fruit salad, and then got him a couple kids cookbooks for Christmas along with a few kid-friendly kitchen utensils.
Kid Friendly Kitchen Utensils
Most baking utensils and other kitchenware are generally kid safe, however, our son wanted to start using knives to cut what was needed in his recipes. Initially I let him use a small, dull paring knife that we had but it proved to be a little more difficult when cutting things that needed something a little sharper. We decided to order a set of kid-friendly nylon knives from Amazon (shown below). They’re inexpensive and safer for kids.
In addition to knives, we purchased a few colorful silicone spatulas, and a smaller cutting mat just for fun. We already had an apron and while it’s not necessary, it’s fun for kids to also be able to dress the part. Luckily, my sister in law is incredibly talented and she made a couple of aprons for us and she happens to have a few left for sale here. I’ve also seen handmade aprons for sale at our local people’s market.
Cookbooks & Recipes
There are so many cookbooks and recipes online for kids as well as magazines you can get a subscription for so I encourage you to look for recipes that your child would be interested in making. For us, we found this cookbook Cooking Class: 57 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat!) to be the best beginner book for our son. My son’s favorite part of this cookbook is that it includes snack recipes (because he could snack ALL DAY LONG). I really appreciate that there are cooking tips and all the meals are age appropriate for him and even our 11 year old.
Here are a few recipes that are also kid friendly and listed online:
Fruit Salad from AllRecipes.com
Homemade Poptarts by the Taylor House
Easy Pizza Quesadillas from SixSistersStuff
What We’ve Learned
This one is a no brainer but make sure you have the ingredients you need, or substitutions, to make the recipes your kiddo is interested in. Being a family of six, I try to keep our pantry fully stocked but when my son wanted to make his latest recipe, I didn’t have gingerroot… definitely not a staple in our house. To avoid this in the future, I had him mark 5 recipes with sticky notes that he wanted to make next, that way I can make sure I have the necessary ingredients on hand.
If you plan on using the recipe to cook for your family, you’ll likely have to double it if it’s from a kids cookbook. Our cookbook recipes seem to only make enough for two people so we double, and sometimes triple, the recipe.
This is common sense but use caution with the stove. I’m not quite comfortable letting my son use the stove yet considering we have a gas stove but he has successfully cooked on a glass top stove (with help) as well as a plug in griddle.
