There are some children that can’t stay out of the kitchen, but there are also some who don’t have a natural interest in cooking at all. Teaching your children the basics of cooking will help them to become self sufficient, and also help to minimize the risk of injuries in the kitchen. If asking your kids to join you in the kitchen hasn’t result in increased interest or excitement about cooking, you should think about what aspects of cooking might be more enticing to children their age. Is it the way that kids are free to get messy when making an easy meatloaf recipe, or the way a cake puffs up and changes color while being baked that will work best to make your children want to participate in meal preparation for now on? Since you know what really makes your kids tick, you can use this inside knowledge to create a plan that will make your kids want to start cooking with you.
Make the Food Kids Like to Eat
Most children love sugary treats and basic ingredients, like tomato, milk and chicken. Homemade pizza, warm pastries and savory soups might be some of the types of recipes that your kids would love to make with you, as they are not complex and can be cooked quickly. Ask your children what they would like to learn how to make so that they feel that they have an important role in the kitchen too. If your kids prepare meals that they are going to want to sit down and enjoy after cooking, they will develop move of an interest in it.
Showing that Cooking Can be Fun for Kids
Cooking takes time, which can cause children to become bored. To combat this, the recipes that you make with your children should be fast and simple. As you spend more time cooking together, you can incorporate more exotic ingredients and use more complex techniques. This will make it fun but challenging for your children to keep up, giving them incentive to hold onto everything that they have learned as well as keep up with their parents in the kitchen.
Letting Kids and Their Imagination Shine Through
Some children are natural chefs, mastering cooking skills at an advanced level well before they reach adulthood. Whether your kids have natural ability or are just incredibly creative, help their imagination to come to the forefront. When they feel that they are supported, children are more prone to gravitate toward cooking rather than be repelled.
Kids don’t always display patience and restraint when it comes to choosing how they want to spend their spare time. That’s why using electronics, playing with action figures and roaming free outside are usually the things they like to do most. If you are able to present cooking as a fun activity that entails learning, novelty and entertainment, they will want to give it a try. Use each cooking project as a unique way to explain an important principle of cooking so that they get real value out of the time that they spend in the kitchen.