Cooking is such an important life skill and if you want your kids to be healthy when they get older, it’s important that you teach them some basic cooking skills while they are still young. But kids aren’t always that interested in cooking and it can be a struggle to get them engaged in the kitchen. If you are finding it hard to get your kids interested in cooking, here are a few tips to help encourage them. 

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Get A Play Kitchen 

When kids are very young, you can inspire an interest in cooking by making a part of their playtime. If you get a play kitchen for them and they enjoy it, this will spark an interest in the kitchen and make it a lot easier to encourage them to help you cook when they get a bit older. If they aren’t that interested in the play kitchen, don’t try to force them to play with it because that will cause them to develop a negative relationship to the kitchen when they’re older. 

Take Them Shopping With You 

Taking young kids to the grocery store isn’t always fun, but it can help to get them interested in food. If they are involved in the whole food process from the start and they help you pick out the ingredients, they will be more excited to learn about how they are cooked when you get home. During your shopping trips, you can show your child how to make healthy food choices and teach them about the importance of avoiding sugar and fatty foods. It’s also a good opportunity to teach them another simple life skill and you can boost their math skills by having them add up the cost as you go around. 

Introduce New Foods To Their Diet 

If your kids are very fussy about food and they will only eat a few simple things, they won’t have that much interest in cooking. But if you constantly introduce new foods to their diet and spark excitement about food, they will be far more invested in learning where it all comes from. You could try a new food night once a week to get them to try more new things. However, you need to approach it carefully and introduce new foods alongside things that you already know that they like so it’s not too overwhelming for them. 

Let Them Get Messy In The Kitchen 

Kids like getting messy and there are plenty of opportunities for them to get their hands dirty in the kitchen. Things like baking, for example, are great fun for kids and they will find it a lot more engaging when they can get up close and personal with the ingredients. You won’t have much luck getting your kids to cook very refined, fancy food but they will get excited if they are mixing up a pizza dough with their hands. After all of the mess has been made, you can get them to help you with the washing up so they learn the importance of a clean kitchen.  

 

If you start out with small tasks around the kitchen and get the kids to help, you can build their confidence and gradually start giving them more responsibility. Once you get them cooking in the kitchen, you can make sure that the whole family is healthy and eating well.