Children absolutely love cooking and baking. I’ve yet to meet a child who doesn’t. Cooking is even better than baking because you don’t have to worry about how much sugar they’re consuming when enjoying their creations. Of course, the added bonus of regularly getting children to help with cooking is that parents are (or should be) cooking nearly every day anyway. It’s an essential part of family life meaning that you don’t have to plan it as an ‘extra’ activity to do with them.
Of course, to help foster that all-important independence, it’s great to plan specific cooking sessions where the kids can cook themselves (* occasionally my six-year-old cooks simple dinners for herself and her brother, such a basic tomato pasta sauce from an Anabel Karmel kids’ cookbook and can more or less manage it by herself). However, there are all sorts of things the kids can help with when parents are preparing more complicated family meals as well, and again, I think it’s always useful to always be thinking, ‘Could they help with this part?’ rather than trying to think of things them to do to help. You will probably find that they can complete most of the things that you’re doing in the kitchen by themselves, or with a little help from you. We have got our children involved in preparing their own food (simple things to start with like helping to chop cucumber or putting together a sandwich) as well as helping to make more complex family meals from a really young age, and I am convinced it’s one of the main reasons they have never been particularly fussy eaters — and now, aged six and four, they eat virtually everything we put in front of them. I only need ten fingers to count the food items that either of them won’t eat, and the fact they’re such good eaters really has made life with young children so much easier. It has been a constant, unwavering positive, particularly appreciated by me and my husband during times when everything else was so hard, such as during my son’s cleft lip and palate surgery, the time we both had flu one Christmas, and the pandemic lockdowns. If everything else failed, we knew they would eat and we didn’t have to worry about their diets.
The great thing about cooking with kids (and this does apply to baking with them as well), is that it ticks all the boxes for imaginative, creative play. Mixing up spices for a curry and grinding them in with a pestle and mortar is no different to a planned activity of making magic potions (I sometimes do this for my son using different coloured jars of water and past its use by date food I find in the backs of cupboards. It’s fun, but a complete pain to clear up). Mixing, stirring, pouring, measuring, chopping (and of course, tasting!) — cooking offers some of the greatest science lessons they will ever have. Not to mention the sensory experience of smell, which I often think is one of the five senses that children don’t get to explore and experience as often as the others. I’ll never forget the look of wonder on my children’s faces as they watched caster sugar turn to liquid caramel when I was making a tarte tatin (I don’t normally attempt anything so fancy, but was having my French-speaking group over to the house and was clearly feeling pressure to impress).
Of course, baking with children is a great activity to do with them, but remember to include them in cooking healthy food as well. It’s one of the easiest ways to keep them entertained and provides invaluable learning experiences for them as well. Not to mention I can almost guarantee they will be less fussy eaters if they start cooking really young. Just remember, as always, to leave plenty of time if you’re going to get the children involved with anything in the kitchen. Cooking with children when you’re in a rush to get everyone fed and out the door or to bed on time is bound to result in tears.
Links and resources:
Annabl Karmel’s Children’s First Cookbook is one of my absolute favourites. The recipes are really easy to follow and there are more savoury recipes in here than in a lot of other kids’ cookbooks.
Lots of ideas for healthy recipes that are easy for kids to help out making for themselves (but remember, if you can get them helping out with cooking fish fingers, chips and peas, that’s great too!)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/10_easy_recipes_for_kids
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/cook-the-kids-issue