If you are looking for a way to tear your child away from his familiar activities–playing video and computer games–consider playing cool cooking games with him. Cooking with your kids is a creative way to bond and to teach healthy habits at the same time. Don’t let your kid’s age deter you from cooking with your kids. Web MD reports that many children–as young as 2 years old–show an interest in cooking.
Try These Games
You can explore foods from different cultures by showing your kid a map of the world. Have your kid select a country, research it together to find out what types of foods are native to the area. Create a family meal based on the country’s cuisine. While the food is cooking, work with your child to create a flag from the country you selected, and use it as a center piece for the dinner table.
A variety of fruits are available throughout the seasons that you can use to make a fruit salad or fruit parfait with your child. While your child helps you arrange the salad, have them guess the names of each fruit and describe its texture before and after touching each.
Pizza is a quick snack kids love to eat and can have fun making. Let your child select the toppings for his own pizza and create it to fit his taste buds. Dessert pizzas can include his favorite fruits.
Set the Timer
Parents and children lead busy lives with work, home, school and extracurricular obligations, so making time to cook together can be problematic, if you don’t have a plan. Since breakfast is often celebrated as the most important meal of the day, parents take advantage of Saturday and Sunday mornings to enjoy cool cooking games with the kids.
Even games can get boring for children if they last too long, so to keep your child’s attention, opt for meals and dishes that take minimal time to prepare.
Compliments to the Chef
Cooking together can help you instill healthy habits in your kids. As you expose them to a variety of foods and ingredients, you also have an opportunity to tell them the health benefits of each one. Children who learn good food habits from their parents are less likely to be reluctant to trying new foods.
Cooking games give kids an opportunity to feel a sense of independence, as they follow recipes to create dishes their families can enjoy. Reading recipes teaches children how to follow directions and what they can achieve when they stick to a plan.
Keep In Mind
Children are naturally picky eaters. Consider incorporating foods that your child already enjoys for the first few cooking games you play. This will help introduce them to the kitchen with ease.
Kitchen Precautions
Children need to understand the necessary precautions they should take when they are in the kitchen. Knives, ovens, stove tops and other appliances may present safety risks for smaller children, so it’s important to set ground rules for your child before you begin your kitchen activities.
Proper hand washing and food handling techniques can also help keep your child safe during kitchen time.
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