Montessori in the kitchen: 8 Fun Kid-friendly cooking ideas

Kids absorb everything in their environment by being a part of it and experiencing it. This is why it is so important to include them in simple tasks around the class. This includes the kitchen! Children love helping in the kitchen. They develop their motor and executive functioning skills and much more. It also adds bonding time between parent and child, so why not! Montessori in the kitchen is so much fun.

To get you started here are 8 fun kid-friendly cooking ideas that you can start today:

1. Making fresh orange juice - This a fantastic thing to do during the summer months. Use a simple straightforward juicer and have your kid make orange juice. This is simple enough for kids of 2 years old!

2. Scramble eggs - Depending on your child's age he/she can literally do everything alone. For the little ones, they can crack the eggs, beat the eggs and pour into the pan. 

3. Quiche - This is something again that is very versatile for ages. It includes pricking holes in the dough, beating the eggs with a whisk, pouring, chopping and washing veggies etc. Super fun!

4. Fruit salad - Lots of chopping here. Be sure to guide your older child if they are using a real knife (you can purchase protective gloves just in case), otherwise, there are other kid-friendly utensils such as a wavy cutter.

5. Cake - Choose a simple recipe and have your child search for the ingredients, help mix (even if it is with an electric hand mixer), pour and even measure ingredients. You can check out my previous post about cake making.

6. Cupcakes - Same thing as making a cake and do not forget to keep an eye out for the hot oven around your little one. I love using these silicone cupcake moulds. They save the planet and form cool shaped cupcakes for added fun. They can even be used for other things such a cups for fruits in the lunch kits etc.

7. Smoothies/ Milkshakes - Super fun as it includes a blender that makes a tonne of noise. To be honest I'm not even sure why this noisy machine is such a hit with kids. Haha. They will love cutting, peeling, washing the fruits and placing them in the blender. Oh, the joy in their eyes when they click the button on the blender!

8. Pizza - A brilliant way to engage your child in making dinner and getting them to eat a healthier type of pizza. Just throw in some extra veggies for your pleasure. They will be much more accepting of eating veggies because they helped make it! You can even get them a kid-friendly pizza cutter.

So go ahead, don't be afraid. Invite your kids into the kitchen and open a whole new world of growing and learning.

Top 2 Benefits:

• Children absorb everything in the environment. They do so by being a part of it and experiencing it. 

• They develop their motor and executive functioning skills (this is through a sequence of steps aka recipe).

Don't forget:

• Stay close to your child in the kitchen. Be careful of sharp objects and hot appliances.

• Demonstrate what to do. Be the example while explaining to them. Add extra value by telling them the use of each ingredient, utensil or appliance.

• Let your child add the ingredients. It works on their transferring skills and they love it.

• Just simply let them be apart of the entire process! They learn so much.