Fun With Kids in the Kitchen
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Growing up I spent a lot of time with my mom in the kitchen. My dad had a huge garden and we would have huge hauls of fresh tomatoes. The smell of my moms sauce cooking and her inviting me to help her in kitchen are some my favorite summertime memories. Have fun with kids in the kitchen!
How often do you invite the kids to help in the kitchen? I understand that there are times it’s just easier to get dinner on the table, but think about all that your little ones can do to help! Have fun with kids in the kitchen this summer!
Introduce them to the kitchen by asking them to help out with simple tasks:
- Greasing a pan with a stick of butter
- Peeling a vegetable
- Adding dry ingredients to a bowl
- Rinsing an ingredient in the colander
- Mixing ingredients
- Roll cookie dough
- Clean potatoes
- Rip up lettuce for salad
- Add pre-measured spices to your recipes
- Crack an egg into a bowl to add to your recipes (avoiding shells in your batter)!
- Use a scoop to place batter into cupcake papers
Kids love to help with cooking. By assigning them simple tasks to help, you’re helping to build their confidence as well as work on fine motor skills.
Proof? My child could peel a potato before he could properly use scissors.
Kid-Friendly Recipes
Not every recipe you make has to be pizza or macaroni and cheese. We want kids to experience foods that aren’t just what they find on a restaurant kid’s menu, right? Now, that doesn’t mean that you force them to eat foods that they sincerely don’t enjoy – but in our house there is a “try it again and see” rule – where after a couple of months from declaring he “can’t stand mushrooms” that he take another bite and give it a second try. Many times we eat with our eyes and our noses first!
My little one loves the smell of onions being sautéed on the stove – but refuses to try them. The same goes for bell peppers. Once he exclaimed his love for the smell of these foods cooking after helping me in the kitchen, he was willing to give them both a try. He’ll eat peppers raw now where he wouldn’t before, and I continue to include onion in more recipes than he’d ever realize.
A perfect example of kids trying anything? Have you seen Kobe Eats? This kid (and his parents) are really one of the best things to watch right now!
Kitchen Activities for having fun with kids in the kitchen:
I’m all about fun with kids in the kitchen. We have participated in kitchen science classes, made salt dough Christmas ornaments, and have built and decorated more gingerbread houses for different holidays than you can count. Having fun in the kitchen with kids is about that quality time you spend together with kids. They think of it as play. You can be proud of all of the learning you are getting in!
You don’t have to be a detective to find a way to incorporate kitchen activities and recipes into a plan of action to start If you’d like to help them on their path to loving being in the kitchen and helping out when you entertain. I’ve done it for you!
Sweet Family Kitchen – Summer Edition – Fun With Kids in the Kitchen!
I’m SO excited to share my new guide – Sweet Family Kitchen – Summer Edition. In this guide I’ve put together a six week long program where you spend one night each week together as a family in the kitchen. Kids will make something special – for example a placemat or a family recipe book, and then together you’ll make a recipe for kids to cook!
By the end of the six weeks (or 6 days if you prefer to go through it that way) the kids will have made six different recipes, completed six different activities, and have the knowledge of how to set a table and welcome friends and family to join them at it! You’ll even have new fun dinner ideas for toddlers – just adjust the program for age! You will have helped to implement some life skills that they’ll keep forever!
Sweet Family Kitchen – Summer Edition includes a guide and a workbook, so all you’ll need to do is pick up some recipe ingredients along with some craft supplies (much of which you probably already have) and the rest is done for you! Six done-for-you days of fun!
Supplies for kids to help in the kitchen
These are some of the products that I have for my son in our kitchen, and can recommend for yours. Certainly, they can use what you already have – these products, however; are made to be kid-friendly so there’s a little less worry about their safety in the kitchen.
Kid-Friendly Kitchen Helper Products
Great products for you to use with your children in the kitchen to help keep those tiny chefs safe!
Start having fun with the kids in the kitchen today!
Pick up Sweet Family Kitchen – Summer Edition and you’ll have a completely organized list of activities for six weeks of fun in the kitchen with the kids! All you’ll need to do on your end is pick up a few supplies – the rest is done for you!
Enjoy!
JJ
