4 Ways to Get Your Kids Interested In Cooking and Baking
Getting kids involved in the kitchen can teach them valuable life skills. Young children usually want to be doing whatever you’re doing anyway. Incorporate them into your cooking process. Start small and give them easy tasks so they can get familiar with being in the kitchen. Here are some fun ways to get them interested in cooking and baking if it doesn’t seem like their thing.
1. The Basics
First, you should teach your kids the fundamentals of cooking. Teach them how to avoid cross-contamination, how to be careful around the stove and hot surfaces and the importance of cleaning surface areas. Put long hair up and off of shoulders, so it doesn’t get in the food.
Ensure your kids wash their hands frequently in the kitchen to avoid things like salmonella from raw meat. Teach them how to check the temperature of foods to ensure they’re cooked thoroughly and the correct temperatures for different foods. Once they conquer the basics, they’re ready to begin a cooking quest!
2. Taste Testers
No matter what you make, let your kids taste test the dish. This usually makes them want to learn how to make it, older kids especially. If they have a sweet tooth, use baking to lure them into learning. They won’t know what hit them. Use this opportunity to encourage and guide them toward the learning goal, whatever the parameters entail.
While baking, let them lick the bowl if there aren’t raw eggs in the batter. Give them the first cookie or first bowl of whatever they helped make. Children feel like royalty when they get the first bite, no matter how old they are. Let them bask in it and make the other kids jealous, so they’ll ask to learn next.
3. Make It Fun
Cooking can seem like a mundane task when you do it daily, especially if cooking isn’t really your thing. It is a must unless you can afford to eat out for every meal. Baking is another story. The reward is the sweetest. It can present a great bonding experience with your kids as well. Crank up some jams and try these recipes to show your kids how fun baking can be. Who wouldn’t want to try making these?
Surprise Cupcake
Get your favorite cupcake recipe and add candy or sprinkles inside them before you bake them. Try only adding it to a portion of the cupcakes and have fun trying to find the special ones after they’re done. Similarly, you could make some thrilling cupcakes with some slime inside of them. Mix some powdered sugar and food coloring with corn syrup to create the slime.
Volcano Cake
This creation is sure to knock your kids’ socks off. Take some rock candy and fondant and have at it with a cake to make a realistic-looking volcano. Fondant can help kids practice sculpting techniques. This cake might even make your kids more interested in chemistry. There are a few ways you can get the volcano cake to erupt-you can use a little dry ice or mix mints with diet soda. Volcano cakes are a fun learning activity and a super fun experiment to try with your kids.
4. Start a Tradition
Cooking together has a variety of benefits for your children, including building confidence and learning new skills, as well as improving skills like communication. Why not start new traditions that are fun for your whole family? Cooking is an excellent way to get everyone together and given a task. No one feels left out, and it can be a bonding experience for all.
Weekly Meal
Have everyone write their favorite dish down on a piece of paper and crumble it up. Whatever meal has the most votes wins as the weekly family meal tradition. Everyone works together to prepare the meal once a week. You could do this every week to try new mealsor you could keep the same dish for a while. Pizza is a fabulous meal for everyone to cook together.
Family Recipes
Reach out to family members for traditionally family recipes to try. Incorporate the whole family to prepare the dish together. This is a fantastic way to keep recipes and traditions alive throughout generations. You could even invite family members over to join you in teaching the youngsters how to make the dish the way your parents or grandparents made it. Making family recipes together is a highly recommended type of teaching, plus it’s good for the soul.
Let Them Choose
Letting your children choose what to make is probably the best way you can get them involved in baking or cooking. You are giving them control by letting them decide what they want to make. They will search for recipes and find ingredients and it will be an enjoyable experience for them even if they aren’t sure about it at first. Trust me.
