Imagine a sack of flour dumped over the kitchen floor. Or cabinets covered with slushie because someone forgot to put the lid on the blender. Maybe even a dish that caught on fire in the oven. All of these are things that have actually happened in either our kitchen or at our “spare daughter’s” house. Sadly, these things didn’t happen when the kids were toddlers and preschoolers. This happened when the girls were preteens and teenagers. And, yes, they were briefly banned from all kitchen duty at both houses even though we laugh about it now. When the kids were toddler and preschool age, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen preparing recipes. The kids loved to help me with every task, sometimes taking me much more time, energy and mess to prepare the dishes. The rewards and memories are well worth the mess! If you are ready to start cooking with your kids, here are 5 Tips For Cooking with Toddlers and Preschoolers.
This is a partnered post with Mindware, but all opinions are my own.
Tips for Cooking with Toddlers & Preschoolers
1. Let Them Have a Drawer of Their Own. One of the best ways I’ve found to get kids interested in cooking is to start them early. While most of the drawers in my kitchen have childproof locks, I always leave one drawer or cabinet available with items they can pull out and use. (Think plastic bowls, saucepans, mixing spoons.) My son’s favorite activity as a toddler was to pull open the stove drawer and bang pots and pans together! Of course, the drawer is still functional for me too. One of Critter’s favorite activities is bringing me the salad bowl from “her” drawer. She loves to sit on the floor in the kitchen while I’m working “mixing” things in her own bowl. I provide her with an empty bowl and a spoon and she thinks she is helping!
2. Use Easy Recipes. It is not the time to get creative in the kitchen when young children help. Not only are their attention spans not long enough for time-consuming complicated recipes, there won’t be able to do many of the steps called for in the recipe. Plus, imagine the mess! Both you and your child will be frustrated which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. Begin with easy recipes like Ants on A Log (celery spread with peanut or nut butter and topped with raisins) or allow them to help stir pudding or “cut” bananas.
3. Plan for Messes. Kids are messy. They will spill things, drop things, and get stains on their clothes. I learned from experience when I cooked with kids in the classroom to not wear my best clothing. Someone was always ready to wipe their hands on my skirt or pants! Let the kids wear their old clothing for cooking lessons. You might want to consider an apron too. Have a wet towel on hand to wipe little hands. Keep the broom, dustpan, and paper towels at the ready. Also, explain what is acceptable in the kitchen. My daughter once read you could test to see if spaghetti was done by tossing it at the wall. This was NOT something I condoned! A little preparation before cooking can save a whole lot of cleanup later.
4. Schedule A Time For Cooking. Plan a time when your child is not tired, hungry or sleepy. You’ll also want to schedule a time when there will be no interruptions. I’ve left the kitchen for a couple of minutes to walk to the door to find my kids had gotten food on the wall! Keep the cooking lesson short enough for their attention span. And never, ever, ever plan around nap time! It will only end in frustration for both of you!
The Tasty Food Science kit, designed for ages 8+, combines fun recipes with scientific principles used in baking!
5. Give Them Their Own Cookware. One of my favorite ways to get kids involved in the kitchen is to allow them to have their own kid-sized cookware. We started our kids as toddlers with play food and utensils to use while watching me work. When they became preschoolers they graduated to their own cookware, like the Playful Chef sets from Mindware. These cute sets of real cooking utensils are specially designed for little hands, with soft-touch silicone utensils and bakeware, color-coded measuring spoons, easy recipes, and more. It’s the perfect way to introduce the basics of cooking to preschoolers. As the kids get older, graduate to more complicated baking sets like the Bakeology Tasty Food Science Kit. Great for homeschoolers, this kit allows children to conduct experiments with ingredients to adjust texture, height, and flavor of recipes and record the results in a lab book. They’ll learn about chemical reactions and more while creating tasty treats. We did a lot of experiments like this when my kids were growing up and now one of them is a Food Science major in college and always experimenting in my kitchen when he is home!
Not only does cooking with kids create fond memories, it helps them develop lifelong skills they’ll need in adulthood. What are you waiting for? Let’s get cooking!
What are your best tips for cooking with toddlers and preschoolers?
Having their own things to use makes them feel at ease. I remember my cousin being problematic when she is preparing food especially when there are events.
What great ideas. I wish I would have let my older kids cook more as little kids. Now I have two high schoolers who can barely cook.
Planning for messes is a must! My preschooler has to help me while hubby is at work. He’s not into messes, but we sure are!
When my kids are in toddler years, they used to love helping me in the kitchen everyday. It was a great bonding memories with them.
These are really good tips. I like the idea of getting kids their own pint size utensils.
Those are such cute sets! Apparently when I was little, I had my own cabinet with a few pots, pans, and Tupperware. I think I mostly just sat in it and banged on things. I was under two, lol.
Isnt this adorable. I think its cute to have tots in the kitchen to help a bit.
I love ideas and products. Although I don’t have any small ones around, I do remember my son wanting to help. And of course bowls and pots were always favorite toys.
These are really helpful tips! I love it when my kids want to learn and help me in the kitchen.
Start them young. Sometimes I wish I had spent the time teaching my kids how to cook
Awesome ideas! When my daughter was a toddler, she loved kneading the dough. Of course, she thought it was playtime. Now we are doing it all over again with the grandchildren. 🙂
Those products are all so cute and what a great way to spend time with your little one. Even if it is messy!
Oh yes, always plan for messes! With kids, a mess is inevitable with just about any activity. haha! Love these ideas.
That Playful Chef kit is adorable! My daughter was just saying how she wanted some baking tools of her own. This would be a great way to encourage kids to participate in cooking!
Those are really great tips! It’s nice to have the kids help out in the kitchen, they can learn so much from the experience plus it will strengthen your relationship with them. It’s so adorable that there are knives and tools for kids to use!
The Mindware Playful Chef Deluxe Cooking Kit is a great gift idea. I think it is so important to get kids interested in cooking at a young age.
My daughter always loved being in the kitchen with me. This kit is super cute. I know she would have gotten a kick out of using something like that!
Some great ideas! I used to give my kids their own cabinet full of stuff close to the floor with play pans, etc to keep them busy!
This sounds like a fun plan to cook with toddlers! I always get my nieces and nephews to help me out in the kitchen and give them small tasks so they feel like they did something big! LOL!
These sound like a great idea and such a lovely way to spend sometime together booking up a storm!
My girls always loved to have their own mini cookware sets. It really helped them feel like they were leading the meal prep. It’s a great way to build fun memories together too!
Cooking with kids can be a messy fun memory! It also teaches them to be self-sufficient later on in life. Great tips!
These tips are so spot on. I would also add that people should have a sense of humor, because things always go wrong when cooking with kiddos.
These are great tips. Getting kids into cooking early makes for some great opportunities for family memories and it teaches them a valuable life skill.
I think giving the kids their own cookware is a great idea to help get them involved in the cooking process. It’s important to get the kids used to cooking. It’s a skill they’ll need for the rest of their lives.
I was actually looking for something like this. I am trying to teach my kiddos how to cook and it would be fun if they had their own equipment.
Letting them have their own cookware is one of the best tips ever. There are some really awesome “real” cookware for little ones. Above all be patient and enjoy the experience of cooking with your little one.
I always had my children helping in the kitchen and making their own treats and later meal dishes. My daughter has done the samething with her children. They can get everything out needed for making cookies and the youngest is only three. They learn fast.
These are great tips and I love the idea of giving them their own drawer. When my son was little he always loved to help me cook.
You have some great tips here. I have always enjoyed getting my kids involved in the kitchen. It’s a good still to have.
These are great ideas. I usually gave my kids bowls to play with while I cooked. Or put the TV on so they stayed out of my way. I won’t lie 😉
I bet we have all done that a few times! 🙂