Cooking with Kids

I’m sure that a lot of people might think that I’m crazy, but cooking with toddlers is a lot of fun! I started cooking with my daughter when she was about 18 months old. Sometimes it can be a lot of work and messes are generally bigger when she is involved, but cooking has become one of our favorite activities. There are several things to consider when you are cooking with small children:

Safety! I have to keep a very close eye on my daughter when I’m cooking. She knows to be careful around hot things, but isn’t as careful around sharp objects. I just try to remind her often to be careful and if she isn’t listening, I don’t let her help.

Boredom is the enemy! Sometimes when I’m cooking, I don’t have anything for her to do. That is when she starts making bigger messes, getting into things, and trying to grab sharp objects. I’ve gotten very good at inventing jobs. Constant stirring for instance is a very important job. If stirring isn’t necessary, I have her transfer ingredients from one bowl to another. I end up with more dirty dishes, but it is worth it.

A mess is not the end of the world. Sometimes it can be really frustrating when cooking with little ones. They stir too fast, sending ingredients flying through the air or dump the measuring cup outside the bowl instead of inside the bowl. When this happens, I just remind myself that a mess is not the end of the world.

Cooking with kids is slower. Just remember when cooking with kids, that you need to allow yourself some extra preparation time.

Here are some of the many benefits of cooking with your kids:

Quality time. I remember helping my mom cook when I was little and now, some of my favorite times with my daughter are when we are cooking. Even though she’s not quite three, I explain to her what all the ingredients are, what they’re for and give her definitions of cooking terms. I’m mostly joking, but she’s surprised me with the cooking terms that she knows. For instance last week she pulled something out of the bottom drawer and said, “Look Mom, a spatula!” How many kids her age know what a spatula is?

See things through their eyes. I don’t remember the first time I saw what was inside an egg or the first time I held a mushroom, but I will remember the first time that Melina did. She’s so excited about the vegetables that I’m cutting up and wants to try all of them. Last night, I was cutting mushroom and she picked it up saying, “What’s this?” I told her what it was and she exclaimed, “Oh, I LOVE it!”

Get them to eat more fruits and veggies. I read somewhere that when kids help prepare a meal, they are more likely to eat it and I’ve definitely noticed a difference with my daughter. For awhile, she wouldn’t eat any food that was green unless it was a pickle. Now that I have her helping me make dinner more often, I let her try food as I’m preparing it. She’s tried fresh mushrooms, onions, zucchini, broccoli, and it’s very rare for her to say that she doesn’t like it. When I set food on the table, she almost always eats it too!

An early introduction to math and science. A cooking lesson is really a math and science lesson in disguise. Teach your kids about weights and measures, changes of state, the effect of temperature, etc.