Tonight, some good friends came around for a play date and dinner. It can be really hard to get Mr & Miss 4 to eat for a variety of reasons, but thankfully (through persistent opportunities) they are at a stage where they’re quite happy to interact with food, if they are cooking it.
There’s definitely no guarantee that they will eat it, but this is all part of learning about eating, and the extra benefit is that they get to use a variety of fine motor skills, pre-math skills and sensory integration, all while building independence and confidence!
If you’re in the camp of cooking with kids being too stressful, I really want you to re-read that last sentence.
Now that you’ve done that, I hope you’ll reconsider, and realise that any associated stress might be worth the pay off. Now, back to last night…
Due to Mr 4’s allergies, we often have to prepare a different version of the meal for him to keep him safe. In the case of the burgers, his definitely had a few less ingredients: no onion; no garlic; no tomato paste; no egg.
This actually worked out in my favour as they each had their own bowl that they could work on.
All in all, the kids did every step of the process, other than chopping the onion…AND they did a GREAT job!
Here’s What We Used:
- Beef mince (ground beef for my US friends)
- Finely diced onion
- Bread crumbs
- Salt & pepper
- Season-All, cumin & oregano
- Crushed garlic
- Tomato paste
- BBQ sauce
Using a salt or pepper grinder is FANTASTIC for bi-lateral coordination, and it builds strength as it offers quite a bit of resistance for their little hands
You could always use a measuring spoon for spices, and help them with their pre-math skills and hand eye-coordination. Burgers don’t need precision so I encouraged them to smell the spices and have at it
They both really enjoyed the sound that the BBQ sauce made as there wasn’t much left. This again is a great way to strengthen their little hand muscles that will help them with pencil grip and future writing endeavours
Miss 4 really enjoys transferring, so it worked out well that garlic was added to her batch. She wasn’t really a fan of the smell but worked through the process anyway
Cracking eggs is definitely one of Miss 4’s favourite elements of cooking!
I strongly suggest you have them crack the egg into a bowl first as inevitably some shell will land in there, along with the egg! If it does use the shell to scoop out any bits
The pride in her voice when she accomplishes this really makes me smile. And she enjoys the sensory element of feeling the egg white as it cracks.
Squishing it was their favourite part! My sensory seeking Miss 4, was feeling nice and relaxed after this.
I did have to help them a little with the amount they included for each patty, but they did the shaping themselves. Mumma shaped the grown ups burgers and the kids got to shape theirs and their friends burgers.
As you can see they really did a great job! And even better was the fact that they tasted DELICIOUS!!!
So I hope after reading this it helps to sway you into the “Cooking with Kids” camp. After all there’s so much to be gained:
- Interacting with food is just one small step on the journey of learning to eat
- It encourages independence and confidence
- It helps develop fine motor skills and bi-lateral coordination
- It emphasises pre-math skills in a fun, real-life context
- It can help so much with sensory integration, if done in a playful, no-pressure manner
- It begins a positive relationship with food
Cooking is a life skill that one day they are going to need, so why not start them off early and make the process fun. Fingers crossed that in a few years they will be making me dinner!
I would love to hear about your experiences cooking with your kids, so leave me a comment or send me a message.
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