How to teach kids to cook

Despite the stigma behind kids in the kitchen, teaching kids to cook is a great way to build confidence and strengthen your family bonds. Just look at the Italians and the French. They spend all day in the kitchen with their family and they are probably about as tight as any culture can be. There are some things to consider when introducing kids to the kitchen routines, but doing so can make all of the difference in the world.

Make it fun

Kids are all about fun. Just watch one of them playing outside and you will quickly see that anything can be fun if you just put a little imagination behind it. Today, companies are making it easier than ever to get kids to enjoy kitchen time. With bright colors and tools that are easy to use, kids are starting to take an interest in what they eat every day.

Before you even begin the prep work, sit down with your child and make up a game. Assign different tasks, develop different strategies and get ready to step foot into the biggest play area ever.

Ask kids to use their imagination. For instance, while wading through the jungle of broccoli trees, what kind of exotic species are they looking for? Maybe they are trying to paddle their way out of the Royal Gorge while whipping some eggs or even in a race against time crossing the tight rope of spaghetti while expecting the kitchen timer to ding at any second.

Try new things

Here is a wild idea; let your kids plan dinner. If they want to have hot dogs and yogurt, what kind of recipes can you come up with to accommodate both ingredients? At the grocery store, pick out a new ingredient and make a mock game of Iron Chef of the House. Who can come up with the most creative ideas for how to use the secret ingredient in a dish?

Let your kids put broccoli in the mac and cheese. Who knows; maybe they will begin to enjoy their greens. Giving children the ability to experiment and try new things will broaden their horizons and teach them about how to pair foods. Don’t just stop at the foods though; think about different ways to prepare those foods. For instance, instead of just rolling up a burrito, how about frying it or baking it with cheese on top?

Keep it safe

Anytime a kitchen is involved, safety is always number one. Explain this to your children before beginning and make a game out of this too. See who can safely carry the eggs from the fridge to the kitchen counter. Also, try making a safety patrol, where kids get to point out potential safety places and suggest ways to improve and prevent.

Simple cooking techniques to teach your kids

The kitchen, like martial arts or girl scouts, offers many opportunities to teach kids different techniques and disciplines. These techniques help to develop a child’s mind and both self and spatial awareness. Teaching kids different techniques in the kitchen builds more than just one aspect of their being, but instead everything from the inside out. Let’s take a look at a couple of techniques and how they help to develop the child.

Knife Skills

Wielding a knife requires a set of skills all on its own, but being in complete control of the blade has a feeling like none other. Teaching a child at an early age, how to respect a sharp edge, gives them the understanding of how power and authority work. Demonstrating how a simple flick of the wrist can completely demolish a potato or watermelon is both amazing and awe-inspiring to a child.

But understanding how to control that power and manipulate it for a good cause is a lesson that is not taught too often in life. Many times people go around abusing power with reckless abandon and, unlike the once-popular comic books; the good guys don’t always win. These techniques teach self-control and how to use the power for good.

Cooking Styles

Teaching different cooking styles is equivalent to giving a child a box of 100 crayons. With this many different colors and combinations to use, creativity begins to flourish. The same goes with different cooking styles. Learning the simple differences between wet heat, dry heat and combination heat, the child can begin to play with what works best in each situation.

By providing a number of different ways to explore the actual cooking process, children begin to work through the creative process. You can almost see it as they try to decide what needs to be added first when sautéing vegetables or if a turkey should be boiled or baked in order to get that signature crispy skin. Letting a kid explore is one of the greatest ways to build their minds.

Clean Up

While the two ideas above deal with being in the present and working with what you have, cleaning up teaches an important aspect of looking ahead. By looking forward and planning ahead, many of the accidents and other mishaps can be prevented. By keeping your mind on what you are doing and will have to do, the child will learn to think about what needs to happen. For instance, if you are not cleaning as you go, you will eventually run out of counter space to prepare food.

Cleanliness also aids with organization skills, making it important to know where everything is located at all times and easy to get to. By keeping your area clean, you will not accidentally scald the milk because you were digging around for the cornstarch.

How to bake with kids

When I say ‘baking with kids,’ what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it a mental image of a child covered in flour, looking more like a cartoon ghost than a human being? Possibly it is from your own childhood where everything is seemingly covered with various ingredients while trying to make cookies. No matter what your perception is of kids baking, there is a right way and a wrong way to bake with your children.

Keep It Simple

Combine, Pour, Bake and Eat. Those are the four steps that any kid should be able to digest, no pun intended. Kids like simple to start. If they ask questions, roll with it. Teaching children to bake is all about being flexible.

Take a minute and think about when you were a kid and how much fun you had trying your hand at the sifter for the first time. Just that simple task of sifting four cups of flour, pulling that trigger back and forth, feeling the burn in your forearm; it gave you a sense of accomplishment. Giving children small, simple tasks to complete is a great way to start teaching them how to bake.

Don’t Worry

If a cup of flour ends up on the floor, don’t worry, just finish what you are doing and grab the broom and dustpan and go at it. The name of the game is, whatever happens, happens. Don’t worry about making a mess. Heck, why not join in on the fun of painting with the chocolate sauce on the counter?

Kids will make a mess no matter what they do. It is inevitable and should be expected at all times. If you can’t control it, and can’t really manage it, why not just go with it and don’t worry about it. Things will get mixed wrong, and in wrong amounts; other things will probably burn, just make sure you have enough material on hand to start the project over just in case.

Fun Is Key

Go ahead, let them feel the flour between their fingers and try to hand whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Having fun is part of being a kid and there is no point in doing anything if you can’t have fun while doing it. Keeping activities fun for kids helps to hold their attention. Kids also tend to be more creative and receptive when they are having fun.

Since the whole motivation behind teaching a kid to bake is completely for the child, it is ok to quietly note that being around a kid that is having fun generally lowers stress and inhibitions and lets you have fun as well.

Time to cook

Yes, it may take a little extra planning, but teaching kids to cook is probably one of the most rewarding things a parent can do. Keeping it fun, inspiring creativity and ensuring safety are easy steps for getting kids geared up for the kitchen. What are you waiting for? Go find the lost treasure buried somewhere in that pile of mashed potatoes.

By learning the power of properly wielding a knife, the creativity of food preparation and the foresight of cleanliness, children will gather many life-lessons from techniques they learn in the kitchen. You only need to get up, grab a cutting board and a whisk and start explaining what you are trying to accomplish every time you make dinner for your family.

So kick back your shoes, tie back your hair and start baking with your kids. Keep it simple, don’t worry if a mess is made and have fun doing whatever it is that actually happens. Grab your kid, a baking pan and some butter, flour and sugar and start making some deliciously messy baked goods.