Invite Kids Into the Kitchen

 

Have you ever wondered how to get your kids or grandkids to help you more in the kitchen? Teaching my kids to cook and letting them help me in the kitchen has always been a high priority of mine. It usually takes a lot longer and makes more mess, but the skills they acquire and the memories you share are well worth it.   

When I was growing up, both of my grandmothers would let me help them cook. It was such a treat to get to do something grownups did and to feel useful. I know my own kids have felt the same way, especially when they were very young. I remember one time when my son, Maxx was about four-years-old and we were making cookies. He looked up at me and said, “This is fun, Mommy, especially since I’m making cookies with you.”   

I’m sure he would never admit that now (at age 16) but it’s definitely a cherished memory of mine.   

One of my favorite blessings is having my daughter, Maggie, age 11, and my son, both helping me fix dinner. There is a bonding that occurs as you all work together toward a common goal—a delicious dinner. Everyone wants to puts their unique, tasty mark on the meal. What a joy! And they are learning valuable skills along the way. At least I am pretty certain that when they leave home they will at least know how to fix their own healthy meals.   

Everyday Family Meals   

A friend of mine, Brenda, has four young daughters and she involves them all in preparing homemade dinners. She and her husband are both physicians. She finds that by having her girls help prepare the healthy meals, they are more likely to try and enjoy the food.   

Brenda feels it’s a good idea to get kids interested in cooking and eating healthy meals at home when they are young, instead of falling into the trap of eating so much fast food. She says that hitting the drive through instead of preparing a healthy meal at home is one reason why our society has such a problem with childhood obesity.   

 

They try to have at least one sit down dinner together as a family each day. In our own household, we try to do that, too, but it can be tough when our lives are so busy. But sitting down together to a meal allows us to show how to set the table, share about our day, and model appropriate table manners.
    

    

    

Kitchen as Classroom   

I have always told my kids, “When you know how to read, you can learn how to do anything!” And that is exactly what happens in the kitchen. Cooking with a recipe teaches kids how to: 
• Follow Directions
• Read
• Use Measurements
• Learn About Fractions
• Chemical Reactions
• Builds Confidence and Self-Esteem   

Steps for Success:   

Your kids can make their own loaf of bread.

Some great recipes for you and your kids to attempt:  

 

• Cookies (drop cookies are a good choice for starters) We make a lot of Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies using whole wheat flour for more nutrition.
• Salads – let kids tear up lettuce and (if old enough) cut up vegetables.
• Homemade Bread – kids love to knead the dough and it’s good exercise, too. They can even make their own little loaf.
• Homemade Pizza – We often have ‘make you own’ pizza night. Each person gets their own piece of pizza dough, flattens it out and then tops with their own choice of toppings.
• Meatballs – or anything kids can roll – they love to roll things. Just be sure to have them wash their hands thoroughly after working with raw meat.
• Quesadillas – Flour tortillas (or Multi-grain ones) make great pizzas or quesadillas. Have your kids butter one side of a flour tortilla. It is then placed on griddle and they can top with their choice of cheese or other toppings. Then place another buttered tortilla on top.   

What cooking successes have you had with your kids?
Send in your ideas and we’ll post them for others!   

Build Fairy Houses

A great activity to inspire kids to get outside and use their imagination is fairy house building.

Build them from all natural materials such as pinecones, sticks, leaves, flower petals, stones, seashells, feathers, acorns and gourds.  Construct fairy houses in backyards, in flowerbeds, in wooded areas or even on a balcony.  Many public parks and gardens allow fairy house building and create special events around the activity. Ask your local parks about it.  Some great books to get you inspired are those written by author/illustrator Tracy Kane including Kristin’s Fairy House and Fairy Houses Everywhere.

We had Tracy Kane come to our community a couple of years ago for a weekend of fairy house building workshops at Clary Gardens, a local public garden and at the Pomerene Center for the Arts.  It was great fun and inspired Clary Gardens to continue holding similar events over the years.  A fairy house village was created throughout their wooded sections that is enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

Here’s how to get started in your own backyard

1. Find a suitable spot.  The kids in your life will lead you to the perfect place.
2. Talk about what the fairies might like in their house. Let the child’s imagination run with this.
3. Gather some items from the yard that might work. Use only natural materials (no plastic or metal – keep this a non-littering activity.)
4. Have fun building the fairy house. Children may want to do this all themselves, and that’s OK. Just watch and enjoy the process. Trial and error is what makes the process fun.
5. Have the child talk about the various parts of the structure and what they are used for.   For example, a large stone could be the couch, a big leaf could be a slide, and an acorn top could be a bowl.
6. Add accessories such as small berries in the bowls, flower decorations, or a bit of moss or feathers on the beds.
7. This can become an addicting hobby. You and your child will now always be on the lookout for the perfect spot for a fairy house and will spy the ideal materials when taking walks. 
8. This is a perfect activity for boys and girls. If the boys don’t like the idea of fairies, they can build their houses for sprites or the boy fairies.  Surprisingly, when we had our big fairy house building workshop at Clary Gardens, there were just as many boys with their dads there as there were girls.  Pretty neat!  Have fun and enjoy spending time outdoors.

Family Time Outside

If you’re like many parents of young children, you may have noticed that your kids aren’t spending much time playing outside.  Many factors are contributing to this trend including large amounts of time daily spent on TV, video and computer games, overscheduled lives and the loss of safe outdoor play areas.

It’s not just kids who benefit from spending time outdoors. Spending time in nature is a great stress reliever and spiritual up lifter.  There is also a special bonding that can take place when kids and parents step out of the noisy distractions of life and head to a park, woods or even the backyard.

There are many books available at your local library filled with creative ideas for spending time outside. You will find the book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv, to be inspiring. 

So have fun outside with your kids. I have found that often you can simply follow the child’s lead.  They are fascinated by the tiny bugs they find crawling in the grass or by the way the clouds take on designs in the sky. Try pretending you are different animals in the wild and interact with each other, or see how many different kinds of birds you can count. 

Sometimes you don’t have to ‘do’ anything. Just ‘be’ in nature. Spread out a blanket outside or sit on a fallen tree and just be quiet for a few minutes. The length of time will be dictated by your child’s age and attention span. But most likely, each time you go outside you’ll be able to sit quietly for a bit longer.  This is the basis of meditating and sharing this quiet practice with children is a wonderful gift.  Besides clearing your mind, you will also be able to truly tune in to the nature around you.  You’ll be amazed at what you will discover!

Make an effort to spend some transformative time in nature this week.