Top 5 tips for cooking with children
Set up hard boundaries around safety
Talk to your children about safety in the kitchen. Set up boundaries and let them know why they are in place.
In a class setting, when kids are not behaving safely, I remove the knife from them and give them plastic knives to work with. The knife will be returned when they demonstrate that they are not a hazard in the kitchen.
Encourage them to use their senses
Engaging their senses help children have a more connected learning experience.
Encourage your child to taste ingredients or taste the foods as they go along. What does the ginger and garlic smell like? How do the different spices and herbs smell?
Involve them in deciding what to cook
Look up recipes online or flip through a cookbook, and ask your child to choose a dish that you can make together.
Read the recipe and make a shopping list. Shop for the ingredients together and get your child involved in the prep.
Teach them to clean up as they go
Cleaning up gives children a realistic picture of the effort involved in preparing a meal.
You can view a list of age-appropriate tasks for children of different ages here.
Talk about the meal
After cooking, sit down together to eat. Tell them how proud you are of what they have accomplished
Ask them how they thought that experience went. Some questions you could ask:
“What do you think of the dish we made?”
“Did you have fun?”
"“Would you like to do this again? What do you think you would like to try next?”
“Share your feedback, and what you might do differently next time.”
If you found the cooking activity stressful, reflect on what made you feel that way, and if there is anything you can do differently to make the activity more enjoyable for the both of you. Was the recipe too complex? Were you both tired? Did I not have the right tools or equipment set up?
I hope the above tips help you start cooking with your children. Put some music on in the kitchen, get cooking and have fun!