Tips and Tricks for Cooking with Your Kids

Young children love helping out in the kitchen. Letting your kids cook with you is a great way to have special time together and also is a great way to teach valuable life skills, even from a very young age. Many parents worry about the safety of young children in the kitchen. There are a few tools and tips that will allow your young child to cook right along with you, without the worry of injury. Try these tips and tools for safe cooking in the kitchen with your young kids.

Plastic Knives. A great tool that will help you involve your young child in cooking is a plastic knife. Sold in various sizes, plastic knives will still cut some foods but they do not pose an injury risk like traditional knives. Check out specialty kitchen stores or linen stores for this tool to help you cook with your kids. And be sure to still teach proper knife safety as your child learns to use sharp knives.

Seek No-Cook Recipes. Tasty no-cook recipes are a great way to start cooking with your young child in the kitchen. Without the worry of hot burners or a roasting hot oven, your young child will be safe from burns while cooking with you in the kitchen. No-cook granola bars, parfaits, fruit salads, and more all make great recipes to get your kids in the kitchen with no stove or oven required.

Avoid Meats. Fresh meat poses risks for food poisoning and should be handled with care. Because of this, you should avoid cooking with fresh meat when you are cooking with your young children. Young children could handle the meat or touch a tainted cutting board or utensil without your knowledge and later end up very sick, or worse contaminate the entire meal making the whole family sick. Wait a few years before introducing fresh meats and the importance of food safety when handling fresh meats to your kids in the kitchen.

Get Them to the Right Height. If your child is too short to adequately reach the counter tops in the kitchen, try prepping foods at the kitchen table instead. Having a child reach above his natural plane will make it difficult to stir, chop, or do any other sort of food preparation. Make sure your child is on the right level for his height to make cooking with your kids more enjoyable and successful for all.

Keep a Positive Attitude. So what if every time your 5 year old tries to stir the muffin mix he ends up spilling some of it on the counter? Try to teach your children some finesse in the kitchen while at the same time be understanding of messes and spills. The motor skills that young children possess are simply not developed enough for some kitchen tasks. Don't shy away from kitchen fun just because you are scared of a little mess. It will always clean!

Cooking with your kids is a great way to have some special time together. It teaches great life skills as well as enhancing fine motor skills. Additionally, kids that prepare foods themselves are much more likely to later eat those foods (even if they are preparing broccoli!). So take these tips and tricks, roll up your sleeves, and get cooking with your young kids.