How to Teach Kids About Cooking

You might be considering teaching your kids how to cook. However, you want to make sure your kids are safe and responsible in the kitchen. Kids cooking can be very simple if you have all the right tools and you know what you're doing. This article provides tips on how to teach your kids about cooking.

Steps

1. 1
   Know your child and their personality. Is the child interested in cooking? If not, why not wait until they're a little older before teaching them to cook. Will the child get bored while you teach them to cook? Is the child going to get over-excited and be unsafe? Knowing what you're dealing with reduces risk of hazards and allows you to plan out fun cooking sessions with your kids that you'll both love.
2. 2
   Start off by buying a simple kids' cook book. Maybe you want the child to be there with you to help you choose an appropriate book. You could even get one out of the library.
3. 3
   Go to a kitchen utensil store and buy your child personal utensils. It is definitely more fun for the child if they feel important and have their own set of tools to use.
4. 4
   Plan a cooking session as a big chunk of time, maybe a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Even if the recipe says preparation time is 30 minutes, give yourself two hours, because cooking with kids always takes longer. Make sure you have all the ingredients you need on hand, so you don't interrupt the session. Choose a recipe you know your child loves, so the results will be much more rewarding.
5. 5
   Sit down before the session, but before you get out all the ingredients and utensils. Seeing all the cooking supplies could cause your child to get distracted. Teach your child the basic safety tips of the kitchen. Cook with short sleeves, stay away from ovens, don't use sharp knives, etc.
6. 6
   Start cooking! Maybe place a stool in front of the counter for the child to stand on. Give the child every second job to do. Don't be afraid of mess. Mess will happen in the kitchen, especially when cooking with children. Make sure your child doesn't end up doing things like cutting or things involving the stove/oven.
7. 7
   Clean up. It's important for your child to know that clean-up is an important part of the cooking process. Clean up while the food is cooking/baking or cooling.
8. 8
   Once you're done cleaning up, enjoy the food! The food will feel like a reward for all that hard cooking and clean up. Make sure your child knows you'll have another cooking session. Let your child choose the recipe this time, maybe at the end of the first session.

Tips

• Have fun!
• Don't spend too much money on utensils and cookbooks. You don't know if your child will like cooking yet!
• Make sure your child is having fun. Don't choose a super-hard recipe with hardly any jobs your kid can do.
• Keep the atmosphere light. Remember, you want your child to know that cooking is a fun and positive experience. The child won't know this if you yell and get frustrated all the time.

Warnings

• Don't make a big fuss every time something goes wrong. The child needs to know that accidents happen and cooking is never 100 percent accurate
• Don't get angry when the child does something wrong
• Keep kids away from sharp blades, hot surfaces, and other sources of potential danger.