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Fun Fare

Learning and Laughing With Kids in the Kitchen

By Dawn Marie Barhyte

Involve your child as much as possible, but remain cognizant of their developmental needs and interest levels. Hout cautions safety is a priority when cooking with kids, and if children show an interest, you can introduce kids to cooking as young as age 3. As coordination refines, your child will become more independent and need less guidance and supervision from you. Mead, a mother of four, says to keep cooking fun or else it becomes just another chore.

Start kids out young with simple and fun tasks like washing fruits and vegetables or breaking eggs in a bowl. Let them do messy things, like knead and shape dough or decorate cookies. Mead has found through experience that kids have short attention spans, so she recommends giving them quick, simple jobs. It's also important to give instructions slowly and one at a time.

You can encourage kids to begin their own recipe files of things they would like to make and eat. Houts says you can keep it kid-friendly by investing in a sturdy step stool to raise them to a safe level and buying them a jazzy recipe box once they begin to read.

Before you begin your cooking adventure, search through recipe books and set out ingredients. Invite your child to choose a meal or recipe, list the ingredients needed and find them in the kitchen or shop together for them. There are many wonderful age-appropriate books that you might choose to invest in so your child can further hone skills like reading readiness.