Basic skills for under fives
Being able to cook is a great skill to have. And whilst it can sometimes feel like a chore to adults, it's an exciting and fun activity for children. Start by teaching your child these basic cooking skills, and with a little patience, you could soon having a budding chef in the family.
- Buttering a slice of bread
- Cracking eggs by tapping the centre of the egg over the rim of a small bowl, and then using thumbs to pull the two halves apart
- Decorating fairy cakes or biscuits – spreading on the icing butter or just adding the sprinkles and toppings
- Kneading and rolling out dough using a rolling pin
- Cutting shapes out using cookie cutters
- Using a sieve – by holding it over a larger bowl and gently shaking
- Cutting soft fruit or vegetables, such as a banana, with a non sharp knife
- Grating cheese – especially good if you’ve got a rotary grater
- Crushing biscuits for bases or non cook chocolate recipes – in a plastic bag with a rolling pin
- Rubbing in butter and flour for crumble.
- Crushing garlic in a garlic press
- Greasing and lining cake tins
- Mashing bananas with the back of a fork for banana bread/cake
- Mashing potato with a potato masher
- Peeling vegetables with a vegetable peeler
Tips on cooking with your children
Choose your recipes carefully
If your children are really young then choose something like easy biscuit recipes or a fresh fruit salad. Nothing that takes too long or is too involved. As children get older, they can concentrate for longer and you can move onto more complicated dishes and eventually entire meals.
Plan ahead
Make sure you have all the ingredients before you embark on a session in the kitchen. If you have the time, you can make a whole day out of a cooking activity. Involve your children in choosing a recipe, shopping for the ingredients, making the food and finally eating it. It’s amazing how children are more likely to eat foods that they have been involved in making.
Allow plenty of time
Don't think you can do anything quickly when you've got an under-aged helper in the kitchen. Things tend to take a long time and so don't squeeze a cooking session in between a toddler group and a doctor's appointment. You won't be doing your stress levels any favours.
Expect mess
You're going to have to expect some mess even with the neatest of children but once you're in that "messy frame of mind" it's easier to turn a blind eye to that layer of goo developing on your kitchen flour. You can always have a good clear up later ... after you've had a cup of tea with one of those delicious, newly-made biscuits.
Unless you have a full change of clothes handy, don't forget aprons for everyone!
So what animal is a sausage from Mum?
You might take it for granted that eggs are laid by chickens and that sugar, cocoa, rice and flour all come from plants but your children may be amazed to learn just where their food comes from, and how it is produced.
A trip to a local farmers market, farm shop or better still a farm where you can pick your own fruit and vegetables will also open their eyes to the variety of foods available in the UK. Use our Local Food page to find out where you can get locally produced food.
As they get older
Once your children are old enough to open the fridge and cupboard doors and hold a knife safely, you could encourage them to start preparing food for themselves (or even for you!). Just have a bit of confidence in them, try and ignore the mess, and let them try out some simple recipes which require little or no cooking. When they have finished their culinary creation, encourage them to help clear up too! Obviously younger children will need supervision and help, if using knives or the oven/microwave.
A five year old could be provided with sliced bread, a flat knife, a choice of spreads or toppings and make you a sandwich (wouldn’t that be nice on Mother's Day!). Or you could give them some different fruit juices to mix and make a ‘cocktail’.
Once they have mastered sandwich making, why not encourage them to help make their packed lunches for school? They could choose some of the ideas from our lunch box page. They might surprise you and choose something completely different to the normal lunch that you would make them.
Try getting them to make a fruit and yogurt layer pudding. Give the children a variety of whole fruits and some different fruit yogurts. Older children could prepare and chop the fruits themselves, while younger children will need help and supervisi
on or you could give them prepared fresh or tinned (drained) fruit instead. Let the children layer the fruits and yogurts in a glass or clear plastic bowl, so that they can make a pattern and see the layers. Experiment with different ingredients such as crushed biscuits, meringue or sponge cake at the bottom of the pudding. Decorate with sprinkles or crushed chocolate flake.
They could progress onto an easy no-cook cheesecake. A safer option is to melt the butter or margarine (for the base) in the microwave for a few seconds, rather than in a pan on the hob.
...and older
When you feel you can trust older children and teenagersto use the oven safely, they can have a go at making their own dinner. Let them impress their friends by inviting them round for a home cooked tea, such as pizza,burgers or a chilli.
If their friends survive the experience, let your kids try cooking a meal for the whole family once a week… so you can have an evening off!
Hopefully, by this stage, you will know that you have succeeded in producing a self-reliant young person, who will be able to fend for themselves when they leave home!
This article is from Netmums.com
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