Kids in the kitchen | Easy ideas for cooking with kids

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN | Easy ideas for cooking with kids

A great way to include your child, no matter how young, in food is to get kids in the kitchen and participating in the creation of food (using age appropriate actions/activities). From planting seeds, harvesting vegetables and fruit, mixing, pouring and creating, there is a task for every age.

Simply organising the highchair in a safe place with view of you in the kitchen when children are still too young to participate more freely is a great action to MODEL food creation. When children are old enough to hold a spoon, they may wish to mix together simple ingredients (just be prepared for a little mess) or help you pour/add ingredients.

As children are more capable, seeing food creation through from start to finish can be satisfying AND rewarding (and may even encourage the child to eat their creation). As we now know, children have very short attention spans so planning food creation projects that will hold their attention can be helpful.

Inviting the kids to join you in the kitchen is worth the mess, for several reasons:

• Food play

• Sensory play

• Exposure to new foods

• Gross and fine motor skills

• Measuring, counting and reading

• Life skills

EASY IDEAS FOR COOKING WITH KIDS (of all ages)

It’s never too early or too late to get kids in the kitchen. Once you’ve established a safe space for them, ensured all hot spaces and food, sharp utensils and cords are out of reach and distractions removed, here are a few ideas to get you started:

0-12 MONTHS

• Watching you

• Safe utensil play (think silicone and wooden utensils)

• Stacking Tupperware

• Pot banging

• Supervised sensory play (see the earlier section on food play)

• Visiting farmers markets, supermarkets and farms.

• All of the above plus...

• Mixing ingredients together

• Handing you ingredients

• Pouring/adding ingredients to bowls

• Rolling and cookie cutting

• Planting and picking herbs/fruit and vegetables at home

2-4 YEARS:

• All of the above plus...
• Seeing a short recipe through from start to finish (think bliss balls, smoothies etc - anything with instant results) - Safe chopping
• Measuring ingredients

4+ YEARS

• All of the above plus...
• Participating in longer recipes/sequences
• Choosing ingredients
• Reading instructions
• Identifying picture ingredients and finding ingredients in the pantry/fridge
• Counting, measuring and grouping similar ingredients

Kids in the kitchen requires patience (so choose those zen days), supervision and... more patience. It will get messy, but the results are almost always worthwhile.