Cooking with Your Kids

Cooking with your kids can be a rewarding experience that not only draws you closer as a family, but helps them learn! Kids of all age groups can benefit from getting some hands-on experience in the kitchen. It’s not only fun; it’s educational and tasty!

Preschool Age

It’s nice to let your kids get the opportunity to see how their favorite meals and snacks are put together and some hands-on experience as well. With kids this young, it might be best to stick to making fun and interesting snacks or a lunch. Do you know of any vegetables or fruits that your kid really likes? Incorporate it into the snack-building process. This will make your kid excited to eat as well as feel accomplished for helping.

School-Age Kids

School-age kids may be able to help you with more complicated meals and meal prepping. They can put to use some of their hand-eye coordination by chopping vegetables with you. You’d think that chopping vegetables is a boring and tedious job, but kids actually like it because it’s something easy that they can do to feel like they are helping under your supervision. It might also be good to let them help you measure out ingredients so that they can put to use some basic math skills, too.

Teenagers

Teenagers benefit from cooking with you in different ways than younger kids. It’s a time where strain may be at maximum on their relationship with their parents, and cooking provides a fun and comfortable way for parents to spend time with their kids. Also, as they start thinking about moving out on their own, they will understand the practicality of learning how to cook. One day, they won’t have you in their home cooking their every meal, and they will need to know how to do it themselves. Let them pick a recipe, or suggest a different cuisine that even you haven’t made before. This way you can work together at making something really tasty.