Thursday, January 22, 2009

Teaching Your Kids to Cook

By Ashley King

Even at a young age, children can become quite taken with the idea of cooking. This interest is often heightened by all the cute kitchen toys they play with, along with their ability to imagine just about anything.

You can find a wide array of pint sized kitchens in the toy store, featuring replicas of common kitchen tools and ingredients. You'll find everything from pots and pans to sunny side up eggs and bacon strips. Pretend cooking has made it very easy for inquisitive toddlers to begin experiencing fun in their own tiny kitchens. To encourage this interest, you might want to look at some ideas for easy cooking for kids.

The easiest way for kids to get cooking is to start with an Easy Bake oven. For some time now kids have been preparing delicious goodies all by themselves, without having to ask Mom to turn on the oven.

Helping out with dinner preparations is another great way to get started. Quite often, cooking becomes more of a pleasure for the parent with the help of a little one. There is no shortage of ways to help out, and if you're baking goodies your child will always be happy to lick the spoon.

The majority of kids enjoy playing in the kitchen on occasion. However, there are those who show promise of culinary skills at an early age. And this goes beyond merely dumping clumps of dough onto a cookie pan.

It can be fun and easy for these little cooks to learn how to prepare different foods. You might find that dessert isn't their only focus, and that they're excited to prepare the entire meal. Who knows, they might get more pleasure out of learning to cook than they do from playing video games.

Why not have your child decide what's for dinner that night, and help him along in the preparation. There are a lot of cookbooks and instructional videos available today that are targeted to kids, and they're loaded with simple, fun recipes. Don't be surprised if you find that many of these yummy recipes are actually quite good for you.

It's so important that you monitor your children carefully in the kitchen as they help out. You'll want something sturdier than a kitchen chair when your child wants to reach the countertop, such as a stepping stool. When something goes in or out of the oven, a grownup needs to be the one handling it, along with anything being tended on the stovetop.

Your kids need to be taught about the dangers that can be encountered in the kitchen. Teach them safety precautions to keep them from being injured, but they also need to know what to do when an accident does happen. You can't be too cautious when it comes to kids' safety in the kitchen.

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