During these difficult times under lockdown more and more of us are spending time in the kitchen with our children. As many restaurants are closed it has forced more people to home cook and this has provided the perfect opportunity for our kids to learn a new skill. Many people think that a kitchen is a dangerous place for kids, however, if they are well supervised and have the correct equipment for the job then there is no reason why they can’t start learning from a young age. With many schools no longer offering home economics classes, this is perhaps the best chance they will get to learn the basics. Here we will look at different types of equipment your child will love to use in the kitchen.
Knives
There is one golden rule with kitchen knives, and it may sound counter-intuitive, but the safest knives are she sharpest ones, because they require the least amount of pressure, resulting in fewer accidents. Having said that if your kids are very young it may be best to start them off with a basic serrated plastic knife that they can develop their technique with, whilst cutting fruit or vegetables. There are many types available, often with tie-in’s to cartoon characters, so these will prove a fun way for your child to start to learn to cook.
Spiraliser
It is a well-known fact that when bringing up your children you will struggle to get them to eat those healthy and nutritious vegetables, many parents even spend years trying to convince their wee bairns, to no avail. However, there is a new tool on the block called a spiraliser, that is perfect for children. It is fun and safe to handle and best of all turns most vegetables into spirals of healthy goodness ready to be shared with pasta or turned into a luscious salad. Not only will your kids love playing with this tool, but their diet will improve as well.
Cotton candy machine
Every time that we go to the funfair or circus our kids are immediately drawn to the cotton candy stall with huge bags of luscious clouds of brightly coloured spun sugar, and with perfect reason, it’s delicious! Well, thanks to advancing technology you now have these options to buy a safe machine for the home, that the children can use to make their favourite fairground treat. They are inexpensive, stable and with a little supervision, kids can now wow their friends with their homemade sugary goodness. Come up with some inventive toppings such as popping candy or marshmallow and your kids will never be happier!
Cookie cutters
All children love to learn to bake as the preparation work gives them time to get messy and use their hands to kneed the dough into the perfect consistency. But what about the shape of the cookies that they are making? Maybe it would be even more exciting for the young ones if they could mould their favourite flapjack or chocolate chip cookie into their favourite cartoon character or dinosaur? Thankfully there are now numerous options available to liven up those cookies and make rainy day baking even more fun. Pop down to your local homeware store with the kids and let them choose the shape of their next afternoon snack.
Squeeze bottle
No-one likes dry or bland food, least of all children, so why not encourage them to make their own dressings for salads or desserts? There are many different types of squeezy bottles available so that your kids can enjoy mixing oil, mustard and vinegar together for the perfect accompaniment to a healthy salad, or melting down a luxurious chocolate sauce for ice cream. You could even fill a squeezy bottle with pancake batter and the kids can ‘draw’ their perfect pancake in the pan. It’s a win-win situation as you are combining a cookery lesson and art class all into one!
As we have seen there are many recent innovations for the kitchen that your children will love, and that hopefully will inspire them to cook more. There are healthy options such as spiralizers that will encourage the little ones to eat more fruit and vegetables and there are machines to make cotton candy for when it is their birthday, or they deserve a treat. There are also an assortment of gadgets that make cooking safer such as serrated plastic knives so they can learn the correct techniques without putting themselves in danger. With such a plethora of options out there there is no excuse not to turn your children into budding master chefs in no time at all!
