When you’re in a hurry or performing hot and potentially dangerous tasks, it pays to keep children well away from the kitchen. However there are times when having them involved in food preparation and cooking can be great fun. The upside is they’re likely to eat and enjoy the food they’ve created.

Some of the positive effects of getting children involved in meal preparation are:

• it can help establish good eating habits
• you can introduce a wider variety of food into their diet
• you may be able to reduce fussy eating habits
• improvement of motor skills
• increased self confidence and exploration of new skills
• starting to understand the importance of basic food safety
• spending quality time together.

Obviously it would be foolish to let your preschooler loose with a sharp and pointed knife, but some foods can easily be chopped or torn.  

• Ripe bananas can be mashed with a fork for muffins, cakes and smoothies.
• Mushrooms can be chopped up with a normal knife for sauces to accompany pasta, fish or meat. This is great for older children as the final size and shape is not too important.
• Avocados can be mashed with a fork for guacamole or spreading in sandwiches or on crackers.
• Lettuce can be torn ready for sandwiches, salads, tacos or burritos. It’s even more fun if you let them wash the lettuce and dry it in a salad spinner.
• Hard-boiled eggs can be mashed with a fork and spoon for sandwiches, potato salads or fish pie. Older children can also peel the hard boiled eggs: they love watching the way the shells peel off.
• For older children with fine motor skills, grating cheese or carrots can be a good task to encourage independence. They may also be able to snip herbs with round-ended children’s scissors or just get them to use their fingers.
• Children can garnish a meal if you choose something easy like sprinkling grated cheese over a pasta dish or chopped herbs over a sauce.
• Some children love using a pepper grinder, but this has to be with supervision to avoid inedible results!

Edible spreadables

Another way to get your child involved is to chop up some ingredients and let them assemble a meal. This is quite easy with sandwiches and pizzas as they simply layer items on the bread or the base. Spreading ingredients like jam, Marmite or butter / spread on bread can be quite tricky but with a bit of practice the lumps are reduced! It may be easier to try spreading spread cream cheese on pita bread or bagels that are firmer.

Mix, melt and make

Many children like mixing things, so making muffins is a good activity. They’re nice and simple as you just pour the ingredients in a bowl and gently stir to combine. Your child may also like putting the muffin cases into the tray and even try putting the batter into cases…potentially a very messy idea.

There are some easy cake and biscuit recipes that simply need ingredients to be melted and mixed by hand. These are great for children as they get the idea of weighing and measuring, breaking eggs (into a cup to avoid shell fragments), mixing, maybe rolling or cutting, and then seeing the magic of baking when a risen cake or baked biscuits comes out of the oven. No-bake cakes and slices are fantastic for a quick result without concerns about hot ovens (and for inpatient children!)

So before you rush in and do it all yourself, think about which little jobs you can give to your child to help. And don’t forget, there’s always laying thetable and doing the washing up…

Endorsed by our New World Nutritionist  ||   Proudly Partnering with Parents Centre

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