The spring break of this week can be a great opportunity for any aspiring young chefs in your household to take advantage of a cooking class at home.
Children as young as 7 can read recipes, learn culinary terms and master simple dishes such as scrambled eggs or quesadillas. Also, you will have the opportunity to foster a greater sense of intimacy between you and your child.
Cooking with children has lots of benefits. It improves math, science and reading comprehension skills of your children, while they read and learn recipes. When eating dishes from other countries, they learn about other cultures, foreign languages, and geography. They also learn how to organize, and eat healthier foods. Cooking together strengthens feelings of responsibility as a member of the cooking team and makes the lifetime memories to a child.
Here are some tips for cooking with your children at home.
When to start
The best age for cooking is between 6 and 7. But you can start earlier 3 in case of a simple cooking.
Safety first
Always safety first, because your child is not familiar with the cooking process as you might think. Dangerous items such as knives, kitchen scissors, matches, igniters, and anything with sharp blades, like food processors, should be kept out of reach. For example, it is better to give children butter or paring knives before giving them sharp knives. Also it is very important not let children touch the oven if they are less than 7-8 years old.
Recipes First
It's better to try the recipe first, instead of playing around with the ingredients.
Starter recipes
Kids love cooking classes on very simple recipes such as making pasta and corn tortillas from scratch. Scrambled eggs and pancakes also make good beginner dishes.
Gardening
Try to create a garden for a child, and let the child grow the plants. For example, a child could plant basil and use it for pasta cooking.
Special Day of Cooking
If your children are around middle school age, let your children prepare a meal for a special day such as "cooking night" and invite the friends or just gather together with your family. Your children can go to the grocery shopping to select the ingredients, plan the menu, cook and clean up.
