Involving your kids in the kitchen is a great idea, but the recipes in your cookbook can be a bit overwhelming for kids.

Here are some easy tasks that children of all ages can do and that will make any recipes more kid-friendly.

5 Kitchen Tasks for Kids of All Ages

Pouring and adding ingredients. Lay out the ingredients in different containers and have your little helper add them at the right time. Use cups for liquids like water and milk, bowls for dry ingredients like flour and sugar, a clear glass for eggs (that you’ve previously cracked) so you can watch the pretty yolks plop in your main mixture.
Mixing and kneading. Cookies, bread, pizza and everything that involves scrunching up dough will be like using play dough for your kids. It’s a very tactile experience that doesn’t require any tools and it will be fun for the little chefs to see the texture change as you add all the ingredients.
Cutting shapes. Cookie cutters are your best friends but also a water glass for simple round shapes will do, or a blunt knife if you feel like free styling. How about simple oval leaves to make some autumnal biscuits?
Sprinkling and drizzling. Most recipes need a sprinkle of salt or garnish and a final drizzle of olive oil and that’s when your little helper can chip in. If the oil bottle is too big to handle, pour it in a spoon for them.
Buttering up baking trays. It’s a super easy task and it gets easier and easier as they do it, because the butter will soften as they handle it. All you have to do is cut up a piece of butter and pop it in your kids’ hands. Just be careful, it can be slippery like soap!

Once you’ve broken down your recipes and identified these tasks for your children, everything will flow much more smoothly. Enjoy!

About the Author

Caterina Falqui is the editor of the innovative cookery book My Little Sous-Chef, designed together with Ink Inch Design. My little Sous-Chef is a new concept of cookbook that comes in 2 volumes, one for parents and one specially designed for kids. The kids’ volume breaks down the adults’ book recipes in simple, illustrated passages, so that little ones have their own book and can get hands on with cooking themselves.

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