Our kitchen rules:
- We wash our hands well with soap and water before doing anything in the kitchen.
- Kids cannot even touch a knife unless a parent is helping and supervising. If your child is interested in using a knife, start them off with a butter knife and practice on something soft like pancakes around age 5 or 6. My 7 year old is allowed to cut apples (after I have cut it in half) with a real knife and it is a work in progress. Safety first!
- Kids have to help with clean-up to the best of their ability.
Kitchen tasks for kids:
- measuring wet and dry ingredients (good for practicing math skills!)
- whisking, stirring, mixing by hand or with the stand-mixer (supervised)
- scooping, spreading, pouring (i.e. batters, or spreading pizza sauce for homemade pizza)
- topping dishes with cheese, breadcrumbs
- have kids choose what they want to make (look through recipe books, magazines and Pinterest with them) -- make sure to choose recipes that are appropriate to your skill level -- that 5 layer tie-dye rainbow cake might look awesome, but you don't want to pick something you would never attempt on your own!
- carrying dirty bowls, dishes, spoons, etc. to the sink, wiping down counters, sweeping floor, putting away silverware
- let them do a taste test! My 7 year old already knows when a dish needs a tad more salt, sugar, herbs, or if it is over seasoned -- definitely a food critic in the making.
If your kids are new to helping in the kitchen, I suggest the guacamole as a first recipe because it involves kid's favorite thing in the world -- instant. gratification. Takes about 5 minutes start to finish, no cooking time and of course it involves chips -- something most kids won't say "no" to! As you can see, these photos were taken on more than one day... we make guacamole pretty frequently around here! Please use my recipe as a guideline and change it up any way that suites your family's tastes. P.S. don't tell them its healthy! Just tell them it is brain-food;)