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| Have your toddler place the graham crackers in the bag. |
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| She had to stop and make sure they tasted ok.. |
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| Let them go crazy with the rolling pin! |
Monday, October 17, 2011
Getting kids to help in the kitchen
My Savannah has been helping me in the kitchen since she was old enough to sit in her bumbo chair. I have had to get more creative the older and smarter she gets with how to let her help! I let her help me make these amazing Coconut Dream Bars. We had to make a graham cracker crust, so I let her beat the graham crackers in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin. She had a lot of fun and felt like she was really helping. It kept her busy as I gathered the rest of the ingriedients.
This post is linked to Raising Homemakers, Tammy's Kitchen Tips
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I love finding other bloggers in Georgia :) I have always found it tough to let my girls help (3 and 2) in the kitchen, but I'm now challenged to find a few more ways to get them in there with me. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteI love letting my son help in the kitchen, he just turned 2! Today he helped me make some cornbread. It definitely takes longer, but he's learning so much and loves to help out! Why would I say no to that?
ReplyDeleteI have four kids who love to gather around our island and help bake! It can be challenging to find jobs for everyone. I like to let the older ones (8 and 6) crack the eggs into a bowl, and the little ones (4 and 2) dump them into the mixing bowl. Most other things I just measure and they take turns dumping. Having all that help sure does slow things down :)!
ReplyDeleteBeing allowed to help is so important! Not only is it a way to learn skills and participate in the work of the family, but in my experience (in addition to being a mom, I used to be a Girl Scout leader) kids are more likely to eat food they helped cook, so it's a great way to get them to try new and/or healthy foods!
ReplyDeleteMy son is 6. He loves to add ingredients to the bowl/pan and has just started learning to measure accurately. After a training period of cutting soft foods with a butter knife (during which I could see that he'd learned by watching that you point the knife away from you and don't put your fingers under the blade) he started using a paring knife before he turned 4, and by now he's getting good at cutting even-sized pieces. He loves to mix stuff and make machine sounds. :-) Rolling up food or otherwise shaping it, like using cookie cutters, is a big hit too.