Try out our tips and tricks to help get your kids into cooking. Remember the basics - wash hands, wear aprons, keep sharp objects, hot objects and pan handles well out of reach of inquisitive little ones.
1. Don't worry about the mess
If the gingerbread man's head falls off, or flour gets everywhere, it doesn't really matter, and it's all part of your child learning. If you're worried about favourite recipe books getting ruined, photocopy the page (or print out recipes from this site).
2. Make it tactile and visual
Think squidging dough, rubbing together butter and sugar, mashing. You can cut shapes into different vegetables - and children are more likely to eat veggies if they're colourful, so give them a range to choose from.
3. Feed them first
If your child's hungry chances are they'll be more interested in eating the raw ingredients than preparing them. Sit down and have an energy-packed snack - say, dried or fresh fruit - together first.
4. Have some spare
In the likely event that your child does want to eat most of the ingredients - buy in more than you strictly need. (This means you'll also still be able to continue with the recipe if things get spilt or go wrong.)
5. Show-and-tell
Describe the ingredients and equipment you'll be using together. Children learn more about ingredients and where they come from with regular quick-fire questions from you - 'What's this?', 'Where does this come from again?', 'What do we use this for?'.
6. Smell, taste, touch
Children tend to discover new ingredients using smell, touch and taste - encourage them to try. You can also help them learn which food group ingredients belong to, and learn about the benefits of each one.
7. Are they high enough?
Kids get bored quickly and can lose interest if they can't see what's going on. Why not get a foot stool so they can reach the kitchen surface or move the cooking things to a lower table. Just make sure that whatever you do, it's extremely secure.
Cooking is a vital life skill, which will help keep them healthy and make them appreciate good food
8. Broaden their skills
Cooking involves a range of skills - creativity, science, maths, problem-solving and team work, which means you can turn the recipe into a much bigger 'lesson'.
9. Stay positive
Forget any mishaps and make sure that even non-perfect results receive positive praise.
10. And finally...
Washing up and tidying up! Everyone mucks in with this. It's just as important as the cooking and can be as much fun - who can dry the bowls quickest?
Recipe by
Chef Lesley Waters
Ingredients:
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 125ml milk
• 198g can sweetcorn, drained
• 100g mature cheddar, grated
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 2 tsp sunflower oil
FOR THE SALSA DIP
• 2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp organic tomato ketchup
Procedure:
1. Mix the tomatoes and ketchup for the salsa dip in a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, eggs and milk until smooth. Stir in the sweetcorn, cheese and chives. Season well.
3. Heat half the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add six spoonfuls of the mixture to the pan and flatten out slightly with the back of the spoon, keeping them separate. Cook for 1½ minutes over a medium heat until golden. Turn and cook the other side, then remove from the pan and keep warm while you make six more corn cakes with the remaining oil and mixture. Serve with the salsa dip.