When dreaming up all the edible squishy, squashy, tasty play activities I could think of, it did strike me – right between the eyes – that despite the fact that we love playing with jelly and other things you can eat… the best edible sensory activity in the world is…
wait for it…
wait for it…
wait for it…
cooking dinner…
…….
and so we did…
Involving children in food preparation is both beneficial and fun – for so many reasons:
1. It is a food/edible sensory activity. Feeling and tasting different ingredients is often overlooked when we get served dinner. Often food is prepared and ingredients are already mixed when put in front of children. Getting them involved in the preparation and cooking of meals allows them to get to know a green bean up close and personal…
2. Learning about and participating in creating healthy food as a child will follow your child into adulthood.
3. Fussy eaters are more likely to eat something they have prepared themselves.
4. Exposing children to different foods from other countries and cultures is a great way to learn. Geography at the dinner table, what a pleasure…
5. Older children can learn about numbers, volumes, mass while reading and following a recipe.
6. Family together time. Team work with individual roles. Participation in the household responsibilities…
just to name a few……………………
Tips to stress free cooking with Children:
1. With any activity involving sharp objects, knives, hot ovens etc… parental supervision is required! As a parent you will be able to judge whether or not your child is ready to use a knife, to stir on the stove top etc… So use your disgression and be safe, work on the side of caution.
2. Always wash hands before starting.
3. With younger children use scissors instead of knives. scissors can cut all the softer fruit, veggies, cheese, meats…
We love these Duck Snippers in the picture above! They are Child Friendly – sharp enough to cut veggies but not sharp enough to hurt people (affiliate link)… (USA – Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen Duck Snippers)
(UK – Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen Duck Snippers 22276
)
4. Cooking with children is going to take longer, it is going to require a little patience and care and it is not always going to yield perfect results. Prepare for this. Choose the correct time and make time, so there is no stress on your side to finish. A little preparation ahead of time is probably necessary.
5. Can be messy. Prepare for this by setting up precautions – covering surfaces with protective coverings, or allow for this – by building in cleaning up time during and at the end.
6. Children are not going to be able to, or not want to do everything that is involved in food preparation and cooking. For younger children especially, give them age appropriate tasks… the more squishing and squashing involved, the better. Children love to mix and knead and sprinkle…
7. Define clear kitchen rules, what is allowed and what is not. What can be used and what is for Mom or Dad only.
8. When all the cooking is complete… do the washing up together. This is part of the process. Make sure you wash and tidy along the way too, this helps to keep things organised and safe.
9. Enjoy the process and ‘on the job’ eduction. Enjoy the time together and Have fun!
A day full of Children Cooking Friendly Ideas to make together!
Breakfast
This Easy Fruit, Granola and Yoghurt Parfai is not only healthy, but children can see and taste all the different fruits and grains before they add them to a container. I would use a plastic cup (instead of glass.)
Midday Snack
These Rainbow Fruit Skewers are fun fun fun! Children love making skewers, you can skewer anything!! This is a great idea if you have more than one child to focus on. A great classroom activity…
It involves selecting fruit, choosing different flavors and colours. It also involves carefully pushing fruit onto a wooden skewer – improving fine motor skills…
And it’s fun…
Lunch
This is a great weekend food making activity. Pizza involves many different shapes and textures and flavours! The dough to the cheese… This Pizza Dough recipe is a goodie. You can however totally cheat and buy pre packed dough flour in a box… just add water and two little kneading hands…
Toppings up to you!!
Afternoon Snack
Fairytale fruit yoghurt smoothies, oh yes please!
This is such a fun activity as it introduces different tastes and textures, it also introduces frozen fruit – and playing with cold berries is… well it’s just fun.
It also mixes up stuff into a Fairytale Drink…
(Children will need help using the blender)
Dinner
We made pie!
Together we cut and snipped up all the ingredients.
We went to our herb garden and found, smelled and gathered some herbs.
And then Granny cooked it all! Once all the ingredients were cooked, we put it into our pie dish and Granny added the pastry on top (an older child can do this themself.)
Emma decorated the pie with the left over pastry…
She egg washed the pie – with a silicone brush that she said was “tickly”…
We made a meat pie, with steak and veggies. You could make any pie you like. This is a great activity as the preparation involves cutting and chopping ingredients, and working with pastry.
And then we ate!!
Yum!!!
