Kids in the Kitchen

As part of my summer planning, we set some goals for the coming year. One of these involves getting my kids involved in cooking more. My girls love to cook, and I just need to take more initiative in teaching them. They know a lot already, but we all want them to move to a little more independent level.


So, we start with breakfast. A lot of breakfast meals are quite easy to prepare, and it is perhaps the most beneficial time of day for me to have a little more time out of the kitchen. If my kids can take over breakfast on weekdays this will help our school day start more smoothly since it will free me up to do what I need to in regards to housework, helping the littler kids, and preparing for the school day.


Breakfast it is.

We eat oatmeal 2-3 days a week, and ANYONE can cook oatmeal.


To make it easy, I typed up a kid friendly recipe.


Included in the kid-friendly recipe:

  • - Items needed (including measuring cups, pots, etc.)
  • - Ingredients
  • - Any pictures needed to remind them what to do
  • - Instructions
  • - Items needed for setting the table (condiments, place settings, beverages, etc.)

Personalizing the recipe in this way enables the kids to know exactly how to do it for our family and helps them not miss any steps. Adding the items needed for setting the table also helps them do everything involved in preparing the meal for the family.


The plan is to compile all of these into recipe books or folders for continued use. Most likely I will keep them in sheet protectors to help preserve them and eventually will make a copy for each child. These of course won't be the exact recipes they will use when they first start out on their own as this feeds seven people, but I've got at least eight years to worry about that. :-)


I expect to walk them through this a couple times and then even the almost 8 year old should be able to do this with very little supervision.


More Kitchen Tips, and more Works for Me Wednesday.

Comments

Great idea! My kids also really want to help more in the kitchen, and I don't include them nearly as much as they would like. Thanks for the reminder!
Great idea! My girls love to help me in the kitchen.
renee @ FIMBY said…
That's great and a very clever idea (to print up a recipe for them). My 10 year makes supper once a week but it's definitely not easy right off the get-go to have your kids cooking.
My girls always want to help me in the kitchen, and I'm always looking for ways to make that work better. Thanks for the tip! :)
Jenny said…
my niece loves to cook. but it was my mother in law that got her into it. i'm starting to get into it, but so far...i suck big time. LOL

Popular Posts