As my kids have grown, I have been excited about what they can do in the kitchen! My two oldest (8 and 10) can do quite a bit…even carefully using knives, the stove and the oven. Over the next few days, I’ll talk more about some of the things I’m teaching them…
But today, I’m going to talk about the little guys in the kitchen.
(And little gals too of course…I just only have guys at my house…) :)
Everytime my husband is in the kitchen when our littlest guys (3 and 6) are helping me…he is amazed at what they know. He often says, “I didn’t even know the difference between flour and sugar when I was their age…I can’t believe they know what baking soda and arrowroot powder and salt and cinnamon and buttermilk and cocoa and…”
The boys have been pulling up chairs (and often hopping right onto the countertop) to help from the time they could push a chair.
Mostly at this age…they are just learning the basics of measuring and stirring…cracking eggs…
And making extra messes…
So in some ways…it feels like more work to have them help me (more on that tomorrow!)…
But the things they are learning are so valuable…and by the time they are 8 and 10…I can turn them loose!
In the meantime…I’ll just keep talking “kitchen lingo” to the little guys…so that they learn one ingredient from another…so that they learn a teaspoon from a tablespoon…so that they know where Mama keeps the mixing bowls…so that they appreciate the hard work it takes to prepare food.
They love being included…and for me to say at dinner, “Daddy…Elias whipped the cream for the fruit salad all by himself. And Malachi washed the apples.”
Remember…don’t underestimate your kids in the kitchen! It is amazing what these little guys can learn to do!
Here’s a list of some of the things my 3 and 6 year old do for me:
1. Set the table
2. Wash fruit
3. Crush graham crackers for a crust
4. Whip cream with beaters
5. Clean out the dishwasher
6. “Paint” butter onto bread with a pastry brush.
7. Stir, pour, measure, count cups of flour, crack eggs.
8. Roll out tortillas (sort of!)
My six year old can make sandwiches and tortilla wraps…but I didn’t add it to the list…because my three year old can’t do those quite yet!
Those are a few ideas of things that work for me with my little guys in the kitchen.
Tomorrow, I’ll cover the topic of how CRAZY it can be in the kitchen with lots of little hands helping… (Not that any of you struggle with that problem or anything…because it’s really probably only my kids who make lots of messes and make cooking take forever sometimes and who allllll want the same spoon at the same time…)
Maybe you could just come back and read it…just to humor me? :)
[tags]kids, kitchen[/tags]
