5 Tips for Getting Your Kids More Involved in the Kitchen

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As your kids get older, it can be fun for Your Kids More Involved In The Kitchen. Toddlers and preschool-age kids love to ask for help. It can give them autonomy and make them feel big and included. You also have the opportunity to create lasting memories. You likely have memories of helping your own parents or grandparents cook. It can be especially meaningful making holiday treats together because it can become a yearly tradition.

Another benefit of involving your kids more in the kitchen is teaching them valuable life skills. It can help them see that everyone in the house helps in the kitchen — it’s not just mom doing the work. And they can also see what goes into their foods and learn about new flavors. With all the benefits that come from cooking together, you’d think kids would be begging to cook with you. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Keep reading for tips for getting your kids more involved in the kitchen.

1. Make Fun Recipes 

Part of getting your kids excited about joining you in the kitchen is creating fun dishes. Working to make sure the meals are also simple enough for them to actually help is key too. Whipping up some waffles or using a gluten free pancake mix is a great option. Your kids can help you measure and stir the batter. Starting with simple ingredients and easy measurements can help build their confidence. Eventually, you can have them pour the batter on the griddle too. Adding some food dye or chocolate chips can up the fun too!

You might have to be the one to flip pancakes and take pans off the stove, depending on the age of your kids. Hot pans can be a bit scary (for you and them). You can encourage them to watch closely, explaining how to tell when pancakes are ready to flip by the bubbles on the surface. If they’re too young to flip, they can still be in charge of important tasks like topping the pancakes with fruit or spreading butter. Giving them small, safe tasks makes them feel like real chefs and lets them take pride in the finished meal.

2. Plan Together

Involve your kids from start to finish. Not only does this give more bonding time for you and your kids, but it teaches them everything that’s involved in cooking. Have them sit down and plan the menu with you. Let them decide what you should have for supper. Then break down the ingredients needed to make that meal. 

Write a shopping list and take them shopping with you. Let them put things in the cart and help cross the items off the shopping list. This lets them feel fully part of the process. It also works more on those life skills. Knowing what goes into their favorite meals is a valuable thing to learn. If they’re ready to learn budgeting skills, you could even give them a set budget to plan a meal. Give them $20 and see what they come up with.

3. Have Family Meals

Now that you and your kiddo have gone through the effort of planning the menu for the night, let them help you cook it. Tell the whole family what you’re having and what time you plan to eat. If there are any siblings around, let them set the table as well with plates and cutlery. 

Sitting down and dining together as a family is the icing on the cake of the work they have put in. It lets everyone enjoy the meal together and spend time as a family. There are so many benefits of family meals. It can help raise self-esteem and lower depression. And it can help foster a sense of love and connection. There are so many devices and technologies today that cause us to go into our own worlds; screen-free family meals are one great way to come together.

4. Give More Responsibility 

As your children get older, give them more responsibility. The fun and messy breakfast mornings in the kitchen are great! But they also need to learn how to clean up. Create a chore chart with stickers or other metrics of reward to teach your children how to help. Doing dishes and taking out the trash and sweeping the floor are a few great ways to start. 

If you have multiple kids, rotate the chores. Just like chores, you can also let your kids take over supper one night a week. Giving them that responsibility lets them take ownership and also lightens your load. If you have two kids for example you can let one be in charge of Tuesday dinner and the other in charge of Thursday. You’ll have to help more when they are younger, but by the time they are in middle school they should be able to cook up a mean spaghetti with little help from mom and dad.

5. Teach Safety 

Along with giving more responsibility and autonomy in the kitchen, make sure to keep upping your safety game. When your littles are starting out, keep them away from the hot stove and boiling water. No sharp knives either. You can get them wooden knives to start teaching them how to cook and chop though. You can get step stools to help them reach the counters.

Teach your kids the dangers of burns and knives and how to be careful. As your kids get bigger, keep emphasizing ways to be safe while teaching them proper ways to handle things. Hot pads and knife safety are paramount. For middle and high schoolers, show them the proper way to drain noodles with boiling water. And make sure they know how and when to use a fire extinguisher.

If you love to cook, it can be amazing to share that experience with your kids. Involving them and making dishes you made with your own parents can be heartwarming. If you don’t enjoy it but find it a necessary evil, it can still be great to share with your kids. You get help when everyone is chipping in. 

Whichever camp you fall into, or if you’re somewhere in the middle, learning how to cook and clean up the kitchen are valuable life skills. You can rest assured that working to involve your kids more in the kitchen will serve them well as they mature and grow up.