Cooking With Your Children

Cooking with your children is not only fun, but educational. You have to make dinner, so why not choose one night a week where you do it together? I have found that cooking together is the perfect time to educate my little ones on safety in the kitchen, how to use certain cooking utensils, and have found they will try foods they make themselves.

There are so many educational opportunities too, such as:

1. Literacy: read the recipe together.
2. Math: count the the cups or teach them about fractions.
3. Nutrition: talk about why certain foods are good for them.
4. Good food choices: which foods will give them Super Hero powers if they eat them? (Currently, my children think kale chips make them run faster, beans make them jump higher, and carrots and squash can help them fly.)

The possibilities are endless as to what the kids can help you with when you are making a main meal or a snack. Some of the things we have done together, as follows:

Cookies: pour the ingredients in, take turns mixing. (Be careful of the baking soda. When my back was turned my son, 2 at the time, was fed baking soda by my daughter, 4 at the time. His stomach reacted to what I think of when a volcano erupts. Poor buddy.)
Kale chips: the kids tear the leaves and mix them with other ingredients in the bowl.
Pizzas: they each roll out their own little pizza dough and put the toppings on.
Tacos: I put the fixin’s out and they make their own tacos.
Scrambled eggs: break the egg shells and whip them up.
Sushi: they put the veggies in and help me roll them up.

Introduce your child to cooking, just go over safety first and then guide them along. You’ll be surprised what they are capable of! Determine if they are interested and sign them up for a class. My daughter has taken classes with Rachel Tayse of Hounds in the Kitchen and loved them. Rachel is a great choice and is currently teaching kids cooking classes at the Franklin Park Conservatory. There are other classes around town, too. Take a look:

Franklin Park Conservatory: Family Style (ages 5 and up with their fave adult), Kid Only Zone!, Preschool Zone!

Young Chefs Academy of Gahanna: classes, camps, birthdays.

The Dispatch Kitchen at the North Market: offers kids classes at various times, check site off and on.

Sur La Table: kids cooking camps offered during the summer months.

Worthington Community Center: generally every seasonal session a kids cooking class is offered (download the schedule). Try the community center in your area, too.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Most classes are for 4 and up, but some cater to the 3 year old crowd.
• Have children wear clothes that can get dirty (think floured hands getting wiped on pants or milk spilling on them).
• Sign them up for a class that focuses on food you want your child to eat. For example, I wanted my daughter to eat more greens. I signed her up for class with Rachel Tayse where they made kale chips and green smoothies.
• Perhaps do a class or a series of classes once a week before committing to a camp. Just to be sure they like it and you aren’t forcing them out the door everyday.
• Pick up a kids’ cookbook at the library. We love Mollie Katzen’s books and there are tons of others. Just google “kids cook books.”