Cooking with kids

Did you know that kids who help cook eat more of the healthy food? Research shows that cooking with children is beneficial in many different ways. Here are 7 ideas:

1. Don't stress about the mess

Try not to worry about the mess that children will make having fun in the kitchen. Let them be creative. They can also be part of the clean-up team when it’s all over.

2. Encourage their imagination

Encourage your kids to be imaginative in the kitchen. Give them free-reign when decorating their cookies, or challenge them to create a fruit-salad rainbow or vegetable animals.

You could let kids cook with friends and turn it into a contest to see who can come up with the best design. But remember, everyone is a winner as they all get to enjoy a delicious prize!

3. Build life skills

You can talk about maths and fractions when measuring ingredients or cutting a pizza into wedges. Or help them understand more about hygiene and food safety while washing hands and preparing your work space. You can talk about healthy eating while you prepare and assemble your meal.

4. Bond over baking

Baking cookies with kids can take an ordinary afternoon and make it extraordinary. Sharing time together while creating delicious treats is sure to build memories that will last a lifetime.

5. Make meal plans together

Meal planning with your kids is quality time spent together. It will show them the importance of eating a balanced diet – with plenty of wholegrain, fibre and vegetables, for example – excite their interest in food and encourage them to help you get creative in the kitchen!

6. Get kids involved

There are lots of tasks that your children can help with. Washing, grating or mashing are all fun activities for kids. And don’t forget the washing up too!

7. Create food art

Presenting food in the form of a picture or simple pattern, or decorating the rim of the plate, can make it more exciting and enticing for children. Animals and faces are always popular and broccoli and cauliflower make excellent trees! Or why not let kids cut peppers and cucumbers with cookie cutters, into interesting shapes like hearts, stars and diamonds.