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Cooking with your kids can be a brilliant way to spend some quality time together. But it’s safe to say it’s not always the easiest family activity! That’s why we’ve gathered up a variety of handy tips on the best ways to involve your kids when preparing a meal.

Tireless toddlers (1.5 – 4 years)

Involve your kids with meal prep:

• Encourage them to help choose the meal you are preparing – perhaps look at a recipe book together (we suggest one with colourful pictures!)
• Get them to help out by washing the veggies, mixing the salad, or handing you ingredients from the fridge or cupboard
• If you’re making sandwiches or a wrap, have them choose and spread their own sauce
• Making homemade pizzas is a great way to get your kids involved – they can choose their own toppings and put them on their pizza
• If you’re making smoothies, get your kids to place the ingredients into the blender (with close adult supervision and the blender unplugged!)
• If your toddler is keen to do their own chopping you can look at getting a kids’ knife, which is suitable for cutting soft foods such as bread, soft vegetables and fruit
• You can also make fun sandwiches by cutting shapes out of bread with a cookie cutter.

Get your kids interested in cooking:

• Make a game out of mealtime! While cooking, ask your kids to tell you the colours and the names of the ingredients. It makes it more interesting for them, while also helping with their vocabulary and speech development
• Ask them to describe the texture and encourage them to try the ingredients; this could help when introducing new foods to your kids
• Make it easier for them to be involved - get a little stool to help them reach the counter and an apron, as it could get messy!

Emma from Worcester, mum to 2-year-old Leo, gave us some tips to bear in mind when choosing food for toddlers:

• Be wary of carrot sticks until they’re older, as it could be a choking hazard
• Peel fruits such as apples, pears etc as the skin might be too tough for them to chew
• When it comes to meat ensure the pieces are soft and small
• Lots of sugar can wreak havoc with your kids’ sleeping pattern, so make sure you read labels carefully to keep an eye on how much sugar they are getting

Emma also shared couple of meals she and Leo like to prepare together in our Top tips for fussy eaters blog.

Keen kids (5 - 12 years)

With older kids you can get them involved with more steps of a recipe and let them do some tasks on their own; we do however always recommend adult supervision. Remember the older they get, the more challenging recipes they can try!

Encouraging older kids to get involved:

• Allow them to fry things, such as pancakes, that are easy and fun to make. Once they have mastered these, they can try more challenging dishes
• Have them measure and mix ingredients for baking
• Give kids free reign to decorate baked treats!
• Chop, slice, and dice softer fruits, vegetables and more
• Get them to cook pasta and rice – we all have a method we prefer, so teach them yours!
• Encourage them to season dishes; teach them about which seasoning goes with different recipes

Nicole, mum of 7-year-old Chloe and 4-year-old Lucas, told us how she involves her kids in cooking:

“Chloe loves to bake cupcakes and cookies. When we are baking, she is doing everything – measuring the ingredients, putting them all in the mixing bowl and mixing it all together, which she loves the most. She does need a little bit of help with pouring the mixture into the cupcake tray and getting them in and out of the oven, but once they are cooled, she does all the decorating.”

Baking together as a family has lots of advantages. It’s a great way to bond, teach your kids new skills, and you end up with a delicious treat at the end!

Have a look at our other blogs for recipe ideas for the family to enjoy preparing and eating together! You can find easy, family-friendly recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks & Desserts which are both tasty and healthy!