Cooking is such an essential life skill for everyone to have and it’s a great skill for kids to start learning as early as possible. They can learn different parts of this skill as they get older and adapt to more activities over time. It’s always been one of my favourite hobbies and something I love to get my kids involved with and that they have a genuine love for it too has been such a great thing for me to see.
So, 11 tips to get your kids interested in the kitchen
Introduce new foods
At any age you can do this. I loved introducing my kids as toddlers to different tastes and textures. Broccoli was a big favourite and for years they still called them mini trees. You can introduce new foods either at home or by going to new restaurants, getting them to see culture is so good. Just don’t try to force new foods onto them, you don’t want to put them off. If you’ve been introducing them to new foods for a while, they will be ready to see what you are getting to show them next.
Table Manners
I can’t lie and say all our meals are eaten at the table but I do try! It’s important for there to be some routine and most of our evening meals are at the table. Kids learning table manners is important, especially for socialising and visiting restaurants and cafes too. Kids can learn to wipe down the table, put the cutlery out on the table and they can also learn to help tidy away after the meal too. Different ages will be capable of varying activities but they will be more willing to do it if you start at a younger age and do it together as a family.
Food Shopping
Getting the kids involved in shopping can always be a little… do I really? This is my one alone time of the week and I do totally get that so it doesn’t need to be every time you go shopping but try to involve them a couple of times a month. They can help you at home with preparing a list and help to put the food away too.
Baking cupcakes
Starting off simple with some cupcakes is a great way to get them interested. The ingredients list is small and they’ll have fun mixing the ingredients together and then of course the decorating when they are baked. You can also pick up a variety of boxed up mixtures of cakes in shops and they have a variety of trending characters on them from Disney to Minions, to space and dinosaurs. They could also have a go at baking some cupcakes for family too and deliver them in a cute box.
Simple recipes
Keeping things simple is another way to keep kids interested in the kitchen as if you make it too complicated then they won’t want to help. The cupcake idea above is a great starting point and then there are other more simple recipes like for cooking you could do spaghetti bolognese.
Help with cooking
With more complicated recipes, there will be parts that the kids will be able to get involved in. They could get the ingredients out or maybe they could measure some of them out too. Or maybe they could do some chopping, I used to get the kids involved in chopping vegetables when i was making a traybake as I didn’t need them to be cut up small and it was better that it was chunky.
Sandwich making
Getting your kids to pick their sandwich fillings is a great way to get them interested in firstly eating their sandwiches and making them too! It’s a great idea from list making, to shopping to actually the skill itself. They can also have a go at making sandwiches for others too.
Food Games
I used to love the restaurant based time games when I was in my teens and mine love this penguin cafe. I think it’s a cute idea and who doesn’t want to be a penguin! They have also enjoyed this airport game too, it teaches them about time management and how to balance a busy airport! Maybe not skills they need right now but they are fun and they are learning about prioritising. They might turn out to be chef one day!
Baking bread
We may have all got pretty bored of making bread in lockdown BUT it’s a great way for kids to be involved in the kitchen. They will love the kneading part and it’s a great stress reliever too! So they will value learning this skill at a younger age for sure.
Arrange a picnic
Obviously when the weather is better and warmer! But arranging a picnic can be a great way for them to be involved too. They can use the sandwich skill from above, maybe even make some bread for it. They can plan out what foods to get and help to pack it. It’s a great way to socialise with other families too.
Dinner party!
One of my favourite ways to get the kids involved as they really can do parts of this at any age! They could just lay and decorate the table, make personalised menus, design the menu, help with the cooking, they could be the waiter and generally they could start to learn how to host their own dinner party. Then they could start to think about themes too.