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Dcclerk
10-24-2006, 02:45 PM
DS just had some friends over yesterday and I had them help me make dinner. It turned out really well, and I was hoping to get other ideas for really engaging kids in the kitchen. Both my kids ordinarily help me with a lot of things, but I thought it would be nice to add ideas that could involve more than one child. Here are some of mine:

1. Pizza dough. I had some TJ's premade pizza dough and asked the 3-year olds to make the rolls for me. First, they got to spread the olive oil all over the pan with their fingers. So fun. Then, they made little balls of dough. The balls were much smaller than I expected (seriously, most were dime-sized), but the kids absolutely LOVED doing it, and it seriously occupied them for about 20 minutes. After getting all the balls on the cookie sheet, I gave them each some shredded chease to put over their balls. It took a while, most of the cheese ended up on the pan or in their mouths, but it was still really fun, and the kids had a blast. The friends begged their mom to make the rolls again soon.

2. Pizza crusts. I just have a bunch of pre-done cornmeal crusts and let the kids add whatever they want from a bunch of options. It is messy, but also occupies for a long time.

3. Baking. I just go down the line with each kid being in charge of pouring one incredient in the bowl, repeating until everything is in. All kids love to turn on the KitchenAid, so we stop and start a lot, around here. For us, thicker batter like cookie dough is better than the cake stuff, because then each kid can have their own spoon to scoop out chunks. If we make brownies, then I give each kid something to drop on top (chocolate chips, cream cheese, etc.) I also let them use a spoon to smear it around and make designs if they want on top.

4. Smoothies. My kids know the ingrediants for smoothies by heart, and can get them all themselves out of the freezer and refrigerator. They love to add them in (except the bananas, for whatever reason, I always have to add), and, again, it is always fun to turn on the blender.

5. Crockpots. I will admit that I allow my own kids (though not the kids' of others) to add things to hot pans and even stir, if I am right there. A lot of times, though, it is nice to use the crockpot because you add it all while the pot is cool. My kids don't like raw meat (me neither), but don't mind the frozen stuff, so they really will put it all in. They also think it is really fun to smell their food throughout the day.

6. Panko crusted fish. My older child thinks that dipping something and rolling it in panko or bread crumbs is super cool. He actually does about as well as I do. Probably not great for the easily squeamish kid, but really fun for mine.

7. Meatloaf/meatballs. My kids probably won't get to do this too often because ***I*** hate making those things, but in terms of fun texture (to them), and ability to make good shapes, hamburger meat is also quite good for occupying kids for a while.

8. Melon balling. It takes a while for them to get the hang of the melon baller, but it is quite fun once they do. I won't pretend my son is super efficient with the placement, but he has fun. (Again, however, I find melons and scooping them out to be a pain, so it doesn't happen too often.)

9. Spice shopping. We lucked out and a Penzy's was built about 20 minutes away from us. DS and I both really like that place. We go around the shop and he asks to smell various smells. Often he doesn't like the smells very much, but he really likes trying to figure out what to use things for. He also likes cooking with the spices he helped choose. I don't think that you can smell the spices in the grocery store, but if you do have a specialty shop, I would recommend taking the kids for the experience. (My DD likes to color at the little coloring table they have there, too.)

I hope that other people will have some cooking suggestions, too :)

TIA!

californiagirl
10-26-2006, 07:24 PM
Mostly DD just wants to taste everything (EVERYTHING -- including raw onion!) but she can chop cucumbers and zucchini (if you want "diced", i.e. irregular chunks with gashes in them) and can shell peas. She can make cucumber salad (chop cucumber, dump yogurt on top, add salt and cumin, stir) all by herself, sort of. I recommend Molly Katzen's books -- we have "Salad People".

crl
11-05-2006, 11:58 PM
You have great ideas!

DS (age 3) can cut tofu with help. It's so soft we use a table knife. I use it in stir fries.

He also helped today with making the topping for an apple crumble. I measured the flour and sugar and he poured them into the mixing bowl and mixed them. We cut the butter up with a table knife and used our hands to mix that in.

He loves making instant pudding because the reward is so immediate. He pours the stuff into the bowl and mixes. I finish getting the lumps out and portion into cups.

I'm thinking about getting him the book Pretend Soup for Christmas. The reviews look great--written recipe for the adult and picture recipe fo the kid.

luvmypeanut
11-06-2006, 06:41 AM
Great ideas!

DD likes to stir and help with whatever I'm cooking so I always try to have something for her to do that's not dangerous. Her favorite thing lately is to make pancakes. I measure the ingredients but she puts it all together herself. Instead of adding in blueberries or choc chips, I have them in bowl next to the stove and she adds them to the individual pancakes after I pour them. Not so efficient but she gets such a kick out of it.

She also likes to make cakes and cupcakes, especially decorating them.

Williams-Sonoma has a few cookbooks for kids which I've never used but have given as gifts and I've gotten good feedback about them.