How to cook with our children

By involving our children in the kitchen, we can not only teach them practical skills such as cooking and food preparation, but also help reduce food waste. Cooking with children is an opportunity to share precious moments that will last a lifetime! With careful planning and creative ideas, you can make cooking a fun and enjoyable activity for the whole family.

Here are some winning elements for cooking with your family.

Include children early in the process

Depending on their age and the time you have available, children can be involved in planning the recipes. Before you start, plan the recipe(s) you want to make together. When children agree on a common project, it is easier to get their cooperation. Together, gather all the ingredients so that everything is ready when you start cooking. This will help your children focus on the task at hand and avoid any delays or boredom. This step can even begin when you go grocery shopping with your children. In this case, prepare the grocery list with them and make sure to buy only what is useful for the recipe. This is an opportunity to help them understand the cost and value of food.

Set up workstations

If you’re cooking with multiple children, it’s important to set up stations where they can work independently, such as preparing ingredients or stirring something on the stove. This will allow them to do tasks they can do on their own and help them stay engaged throughout the process. They will have a sense of empowerment and pride in their work. If you know them, teach them the proper way to manage even to cut with a knife. There are also kitchen utensils adapted to the smallest. But if you don’t have these items or don’t want to invest in new equipment, keep it simple and make do with what you have on hand.

Start with easy recipes

When cooking with children, it’s important to start with simple recipes that don’t require too many steps or complicated ingredients. This will keep them interested and give them a sense of accomplishment when they finish the dish. Every gesture counts: learning how to measure flour, mixing the mixture without putting it everywhere, breaking the eggs. Be indulgent: it’s not the end of the world if there’s still a little eggshell in the cake! It adds crunch! Remember that we are not looking for perfection, but rather to have a good time together while sharing the taste for cooking.

Make it fun

Cooking with children should be a fun experience. Use colorful ingredients, let them be as creative as possible, and don’t forget to praise them for their work! By putting brioche dough or marbled cakes on the menu, budding cooks will be able to create desserts that are out of the ordinary.

Be inventive

To get your kids excited about cooking, try creating new dishes together or inventing unique recipes from their favorite foods. You’ll have a lot of fun and create some great memories in the process! Some families will, for example, explore new flavors from elsewhere: this allows them to discover new spices, new textures and to travel on a budget! You can play music typical of the country you are making a recipe for to get you in the mood. Children are eager for this type of experience and will take away precious memories.

Clean as you go

Keep the cleaning process going throughout the cooking session so that it doesn’t become overwhelming at the end. You can even make it part of the activity and have your kids help wipe down the counters and put away the ingredients. Children become aware that cooking also involves cleaning and tidying up. The kitchen also teaches them organization and planning for both the recipe and the entire session.

Give them (and yourself) room for error

While we want to avoid food waste, let them and you make mistakes. They got the measurements of the cake recipe wrong. You can improvise “pop cakes”, a kind of cake balls on wooden sticks. Kids love it and it will prevent the “missed” recipe from ending up in the garbage. Trial and error is the basis for learning. As you go along, your children will become more independent and confident.

Real little chefs

The more you cook together, the more independent your children will become. If you see that your children have a real interest in cooking, why not give them all the space in the kitchen? For example, you could offer to prepare a meal for the whole family for a special occasion, while supervising it to ensure their safety.

You can also ritualize the preparation of snacks for the week by cooking snack recipes together [https://tcsagim .org/category/recettes-cuisine-collective/collations /] for school.

Taste everything to open their curiosity

One of the great benefits of getting kids involved in the kitchen is that they get to taste everything. The discovery of new flavors is essential in the development of the child. Also, when a child has been involved in the development of a plan, he or she is more likely to eat it once at the table. Smells, textures, colors, all these elements can become sources of discovery and learning for children.

Cooking as a family is a great way to have fun, learn important skills and create lasting memories. With the right approach and careful planning, you can make the experience enjoyable for everyone! By following these simple tips, cooking with your children can be a fun and rewarding experience that they will remember for years to come!