

After that, using texture and taste, she can announce what she just ate.Īll you need to occupy your child while you make dinner is a bowl of cereal and some string! Using breakfast cereal such as Fruit Loops, your child can make colorful necklaces or bracelets by threading some string through the holes.

Let her spend some time feeling the shape to guess what it is. “Cut the foods into fun shapes like ‘apple moons,’ ‘banana wheels,’ ‘carrot swords,’ ‘cheese stars,’ ‘broccoli trees’ and ‘strawberry hearts.'” Have your child close her eyes and reach out to the tray to choose one item. “Make a kids’ snack tray and create an assortment of healthy eats,” Sherwood recommends. Teach your child about taste, shape and texture by playing a taste testing game with healthy fruits and vegetables. Your child can bake an imaginary cake and serve it after dinner. If you’re ambitious, construct an oven out of a large cardboard box. Using these items can help develop your child’s fine motor skills as she mixes, chops and pours. Plastic cups, bowls and spoons can help your child to prepare her own make-believe meal alongside you. Before you get started on the fun, remember to designate a safe play space for your child in an unused corner of the kitchen, or just outside the kitchen where you can still see them at all times.įill a toy box with items that mimic the tools you’re using in the kitchen. Here are four cooking games for kids that will help keep them occupied and teach them valuable lessons. “The more engaged they are in the process, the more likely they will be to eat it - and enjoy it,” agrees Amanda Mascia, creator of the Emmy Award-winning kids’ cooking show The Good Factory. Rachel Sherwood, a food stylist and author, says that children can start learning about meal prep whenever they begin to show an interest - the earlier, the better. It’ll help the time go by more quickly for all of you.

If your children are old enough to be in the kitchen, teach them the importance of meal preparation with safe and fun cooking games for kids. But you’ve got a time-consuming meal to prepare, and it’s difficult to concentrate on creating a healthy meal for the family when your little ones are underfoot. Just as you take out pots and pans, your kids start to get cranky and hungry, and they want your attention. Let the children decorate the cool cookies as they wish.Cooking dinner can be one of the most stressful parts of your day.

Pour it into different cups and add food coloring.
