BabyWhispererForums.com
ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: creations on July 30, 2012, 21:31:21 pm
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Do you cook with your toddler?
My DS is 18 months. We have done a little cooking in the past but we've just increased the amount we do together. I've just ordered a kids cookery book, a child safe chopping knife and a rotary grater to make things a bit safer and easier.
So, if anyone already cooks with their young toddler, or wants to get started, would you like to share ideas, recipes, handy websites, tips etc? I thought it would be nice to have a kids cooking support thread if anyone was up for it.
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I would love to do this but I struggle with Z being so sensitive and having a short attn span. Can I follow along for tips and ideas ;)
Katy (amayze) recently posted about this awesome thing you could get to aid kids cooking etc...I think it's in hogwatch
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This is it!! http://www.littlehelper.co.uk/product.php?id=11
Also this- a learning tower: http://learningtower.com.au/
a DIY version; http://ana-white.com/2010/12/helping-tower.html
I'd LOVE to get one- i thought it might be worth the price as there's not really much else as safe-- i've had my cousins and nieces of all ages helping on step ladders and such- and they aren't really that great...
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Also= another tip- When i've cooked with my cousin who has a mild cerebral palsy/hemiplegia i got her to cut with a mezzaluna- you have to hold both sides for it to work, so it's hard to cut your hands while you are cutting. Perhaps still sharp for a 18 month old- but possibly good for a kid that's a little older..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzaluna
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I want! So bad! :D
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I found that cooking with DD was a bit tough early on but when she got to be about 2.5 or 3 she was really able to keep her attention on it and at least stay through most of it. Now she's 3.5 and loves to bake.
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Ooh the towers look great. Out of my price range though and I think I'd struggle to find somewhere to keep it (we have a big kitchen but I'm a bit of a clear up freak and like everything out of the way! haha, remember it was me that stores his play kitchen under the ikea high chair :) ). They are a great idea though.
So, I'll be using DS's table which is an ikea SVALA. He can stand at it to do chopping. It's prob too high to do mixing at just yet (so far I've put him in the antilop for that) so I might need to do mixing with him sat on the floor or in his highchair.
I've just ordered the dog knife and duck snippers from here:
http://www.cookability.biz/kinderkitchen/d_491.htm
DS can't use scissors yet but thought I'd get them anyway and see what they are like. The knife is similar to one we used at our toddler cooking class:
http://www.pamperedchef.co.uk/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=10810&catId=4&parentCatId=&outletSubCat=&viewAllOutlet=
The dog knife is a little more attractive and a little more expensive, tbh I chose it to compare the two, I might end up getting the Pampered chef one too.
There's a couple of web sites that I'm looking at:
http://www.healthychild.net/NutritionAction.php?article_id=286
http://www.mydaddycooks.com/
The second one has video blogs of a Daddy cooking with his LO plus recipes. They did BLW and this guy is making real family meals rather than just 'kid' stuff.
There's a TV prog here, I think the website and recipes will be useful too. I've watched it a few times with DS, the presenter does everything in a child safe way (like pushing the centre of a sweet pepper to 'pop' it, then tearing the pepper up), but it's aimed at 3-5 yr olds. I haven't spent much time looking at the web site yet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/i-can-cook/
it looks like maybe there is only one recipe per week on there, but this page seems to have lots. There's also a recipe book.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b01729t0
So we used the Pampered Chef knife last week for the first time. Used it to make english muffin pizzas. It was great. Pretty quick and held DS's attention well enough. We also made carrot baton crudites. The knife worked so well I was amazed and I think this is really what has motivated me to get started on doing more cooking with him. I'd like to make 'real' food rather than just mixing muffins or pouring ingredients. Lets face it, there IS a limit to what a little toddler can do, but IMO it's boring to watch mummy use the food processor and chop stuff and far more interesting to be able to get your hands on the food and chop or tear it up.
I made char grilled aubergines yesterday and although DS couldn't do the grilling part I could see that chopping the aubergines would be an activity he could do once our knife arrives.
I'm kind of thinking maybe some cooking activity pre-nap, then do the hot stuff during his nap and eat lunch together post nap. Maybe one day per week.
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I was just looking at the My Daddy Cooks site and read that he has his LO in a fun pod, much the same as the tower :)
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Creations, you are a fantastic cook anyway so I am sure you are passing your enthusiasm for food on! We love I Can Cook, got the book although of course we are limited due to Olly's allergies we do some baking together.
I must get some safe equipment for him too!
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Creations, you are a fantastic cook
Ha ha! I must have mummy-mush-brain as I don't remember you coming round for dinner :)
I almost bought the 'I can cook' book but then at the last minute chose a different book ('Easy Peasy') because the ICC recipes are available on-line and partly because the book I ordered was only 1p plus p+p. Bargain!
I know on the 'I can cook' progs they use scissors and just say to get regular nursery scissors, which we don't have. I heard today IKEA do some child safe scissors, although I also heard they are a bit sharp if you touch the blade so not sure about that.
I've watched a couple of the My Daddy Cooks videos now and they are really inspiring. Half wondering how this stay at home dad has time to set up cameras, edit film and produce a high quality blog whilst also doing all the child care and family meals. I wonder if he also vacuums?
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Ha!
I think at that age we didn't do an awful lot more than basic baking, but we do grow a lot so DS has been out picking and shelling from an early age.
We have a small colander for him and he stands on his chair at the sink washing salad etc, so he can help make lunch. Can do that as often as he wants - tear lettuce etc and then share stuff out.
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DS has been out picking and shelling from an early age.
Ooh this sounds WONDERFUL!
We don't have a garden but I used to grow some things at a previous place. Courgettes and peppers, toms, strawbs...oh I'm missing it now!
What a lovely activity for your DS.
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It is lovely - he helps plant etc and is really into all his gardening. Running down the garden last week to go pick the redcurrants before the birds got to them! It does get interesting when he comes back in with something that's not ready yet, but that's the only downside.
Beetroot to harvest next, what on earth do I do with a whole crop?!?!?
I'd say keep the cooking simple at first - decorating biscuits is easy, and also sharing things out can promote sharing in general (I think!).
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Beetroot to harvest next, what on earth do I do with a whole crop?!?!?
Send them to me - I love beetroot and so does DS!
I was thinking some of our cooking activities might be chopping veg for our main meals things like that which are part of normal day stuff. And then as separate cooking activity I'd really like to make some thing like flat bread or chapati even though I've never made them myself but we love eating them and I though maybe playing with the dough would be good.
Anyone made bread with their LO?
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Anyone made bread with their LO?
I make all our bread, but usually in the evenings when F is asleep. She has helped with pizza dough though - I just break a bit of the dough off and she can knead away. She also likes to sprinkle toppings on her own pizza :) I have prepared them in advance though.
I would like to do more cooking with her too. Mostly I just give her a few of the vegetables that I'm preparing, especially if they are small - mushrooms, shallots, baby corn etc - and a chopping board, plastic knife, bowl and large spoon, and she pretends to chop and then mix. She loves to play at cooking so it'd be nice for her to be able to be more involved in the real thing. I'll check out those links :)
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DS is just now really starting to "get" being in the kitchen and really likes be a part of it. Before he really just had no interest. He likes mixing, turning on the elements, cracking eggs, shaking the spices, etc. I really have to make sure I have everything laid out beforehand though because in a couple seconds he will add the whole lot if I am not looking.
Anyone made bread with their LO?
We make chapatis quite a bit around here and DS likes kneading the dough, sprinkling the flour on top, rolling, etc. It is a good one to make with LOs aside from the hot pan part :)
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I make all our bread,
Now I feel really inadequate! ;)
Nuala, I think F would love one of those knives. For our english muffin pizza (at toddler group) we chopped cherry toms in half, sliced a mushroom, although she'd need some help for a while the knife is so safe it would mean more involvement for her. She could chop the bits for the pizzas herself.
Gogomama, chapatis sound great fun. I've just book marked a recipe to do with DS (although it won't be until at least next week I think). I've only made them a couple of times and it was years ago.
Can you tell me. This recipe says to leave the dough to stand (rolled into balls) for 15 mins. Would it be ok to leave them longer, like a couple of hours or is this going to ruin the dough?
And once they are rolled and ready to cook, can they be left at all (stacked up in a container for minutes/hours say) or must each one be cooked as soon as it is rolled out?
This would help me decide when in the day would be better to make them with DS (pre nap, post nap etc).
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The english muffin pizza is a good idea! I will have to try that one of these days.
Re the dough, it tends to dry out pretty quick if you leave it out especially the smaller you break it up. If you don't want to cook right away I would leave all of the dough in a bowl covered with a moist towel to make sure it doesn't dry out too much. If you make too much, you can store the extra in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a couple days. HTH
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Thank you!
Yes the english muffin pizza was much nicer than I expected. It also felt like a much more fulfilling activity due to DS doing the chopping rather than just laying the food on which tbh would have taken about 30 seconds.
I often buy garlic flat bread from the supermarket and use that to make pizza (without the tomato sauce base, using the garlic that is there already as the base) which I love far more than regular pizza base. If the chapati goes well with DS we will be making a range of different flat breads I think.
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I make all our bread,
Now I feel really inadequate!
haha, nothing special I assure you - it's just the only way to get bread that's not sweet!
I think I will look into getting a knife like that - or suggest it to the grandparents, they're always asking what they can send us ;) I really like the idea of making chapatis too - if your recipe works out well, you'll have to post it.
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Well, we've just made some veg gratin for tea. DS (4.5) was able to help make the breadcrumbs, wash the veg, grate the cheese and assemble everything. He loved it!
On to beetroot tarte tatin next. He may love making these things, but will he eat them...?
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I really like the idea of making chapatis too - if your recipe works out well, you'll have to post it.
I said it would be next week but actually made them yesterday.
I used this recipe (but halved the quantity to just make 6)
http://indianfood.about.com/od/breadrecipes/ig/How-to-Make-Chapatis/
I liked the tip about pressing down the edges with a teacloth it really makes them puff up. tbh I would have preferred a softer chapati, I used all wholemeal flour so maybe half white would suit me more. I also used milk rather than water as the recipe said it makes them softer, plus the other tip of adding oil.
DS enjoyed measuring out the flour - I put a cup measure inside a mixing bowl in case of spillages, then gave him a smaller spoon to spoon the flour from tub to the cup measure. He also liked helping pour the spoon of oil. He enjoyed some of the mixing together but lost interest once he realised his hands were covered in sticky stuff. He didn't want to play with or knead the dough either. After leaving the dough for 10 mins I went back to roll it out, he wasn't really interested in that and didn't stay to watch the cooking.
He did however enjoy washing his table down to clean up and thoroughly enjoyed eating the finished chapati. On the whole I think it was a success, he seemed thrilled to be invited to cook and clean.
DS (4.5) was able to help make the breadcrumbs
How do you make the breadcrumbs? In a whizzer? I don't think I could be bothered to organize getting my whizzer down to DS's level at his table.
Does he use a regular grater for the cheese?
On to beetroot tarte tatin next.
Sounds yummy, DS loves beetroot it would be great to have a recipe he could make.
Can you share the recipe and any tips?
So...after me saying the funpod was out of our price range and I wouldn't be able to find space for one in the kitchen, well, erm...MIL came over yesterday and just as she was leaving surprised me with a wad of cash :)
She is far more a money giver than a time giver, DS has only seen her a handful of times in his life, so in her absence I'm quite happy to accept her cash and get things for DS I might not ordinarily get. I do think the funpod is way over priced, and we don't NEED it, he has his little table he can cook at, but you know what I really think we might get one with this unexpected money. I've even been measuring places in the kitchen where it might fit for storage.
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YAy! Check e-bay if your into that... there was one up on ours recently but we were pretty strapped for cash and we don't NEED it yet so i haven;t bought it... but you might be lucky!
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We just use a normal cheese grater. It does come with a bit of a health warning but I think it's worth kids being able to join in rather than having special stuff for everything.
And the tarte was a River Cottage recipe - we're working through the Veg Every day book.
The pod sounds lovely, but do you really need one? We've always had DS at the worktop, but just by turning around his little chair so he can stand on the seat.
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The pod sounds lovely, but do you really need one?
Well, that's the big question.
I'm not sure he would be safe enough standing on a chair as he's only 18 months old but then I'm not sure about getting the fun pod either.
I made naan for the first time yesterday. I'd planned on DS being involved but it didn't work out like that. He watched for a few minutes whilst sitting in his high chair so he could see up on the work surface but he didn't want to play with any of the dough.
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Maybe he could help with the washing up if he doesn't get the food prep bit yet! Olly loves a bowl of water, a sponge and some plastic plates and cups!
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Maybe he could help with the washing up if he doesn't get the food prep bit yet! Olly loves a bowl of water, a sponge and some plastic plates and cups!
He would LOVE this. I haven't let him stand up on a chair yet though. And I know he would empty the entire sink of water onto the floor so there would be some serious mopping up to do :)
He gets excited to be shown and involved in things, just not always in the mood I suppose. He was like this when I introduced arts materials and would only do about 5 mins but now he knows exactly which materials he wants and spends much longer at it.
He just got into play dough because there is a machine to stuff it in and pull the lever to make it 'poo' out the other side. I think the naan dough was less fun because it lacked a pooing machine :)
Which makes me think he might like to put pasta through a machine but I don't have one.
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He is still so young so it is great he is showing an interest already. Olly didn't really until he was older, unless it involved getting messy of course ;)
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He is still so young so it is great he is showing an interest already. Olly didn't really until he was older, unless it involved getting messy of course ;)
Yes it is nice that he has some interest.
DS is the opposite - he is happier up to the point he realises he is a mess, then he wants cleaning asap and loses interest!
I think my approach is going to be taking part in prep etc for part meals rather than trying to get him to stay for a full recipe/activity.
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What about giving him his own pots of some cheap ingredients so he can make up his own 'recipes' while you cook?
We have small pots of pasta, lentils, rice which DS uses, and I let him go in the garden and pick herbs! Useful when I want to do some cooking but know he won't be interested in the real thing.
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This is a fab idea for when he is a bit older. Atm he would just empty them all over the floor so we stick to his plastic fruit and veg for pretend cooking but I'm going to remember this idea.
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Little update. It took ages for our dog knife to be delivered so I wasn't able to report on it sooner. It looks cuter than the very basic and functional looking pampered chef knife but I think on balance I'd go for the pampered chef one.
The dog knife has a little rubber/plastic tail that sticks up and I've found it prods DS's wrist/arm when he is cutting, he doesn't like it prodding him. The blade is also shorter so it's not quite as functional as the pampered chef.
That said, he has used the knife and I've involved him with chopping veg for our regular meals (more so than doing LO activity cooking sessions). Amazing how he 'instinctively' knows the edge is to be avoided (even though with this knife he wouldn't get hurt) and he is careful where he positions his fingers when holding the veg to chop. I still help him hand over hand.
Funny the other day I did a little with him then backed off, he oh-so-quickly showed me you don’t need any knife at all to cut mushrooms into the size required, you can just break them :) He's not stupid eh! He prepped all the mushrooms and put them all in a tub ready for me to cook. I've mainly sat him in his highchair for these short cooking activities rather than take his little table through to the kitchen.
We have also used the duck scissors successfully. The spring action works a treat so DS only needs to squeeze together rather than the regular together-apart scissor action.
He is so much more interested in getting involved with the real cooking. At our cooking class he likes the cutting part but totally loses interest when just required to decorate something.
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Glad you're having success!
Yes, I find asking DS to decorate something is less popular than 'real' cooking. They know when they're being really involved! That's great for us because it means the meals get made rather than cooking as an activity filler.
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Glad you're both enjoying the knife! F has helped me with bread a couple of times recently and has really enjoyed measuring out the flour and "squishing" the dough. Today we made bread rolls so then had to roll out little balls :) She'll happily be involved in making bread far longer than she'll play with play dough.
Good idea about the mushrooms (not really your idea, but DS's ;)) - maybe I can put F in charge of them and she can just pull them apart.
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Ok- so after you take a moment to VOMIT at the title of this blog- i saw it and thought it might have an idea or 2 that you mightn't have tried- OR you'll think you could have written it!!
http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/cooking-with-preschoolers/
Not really a feminist manifesto as such...
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Well, that was worth a read...but why are only girls allowed to learn to cook?!?!?!?
I'm trying to 'raise a good husband' here!!!
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I'm trying to 'raise a good husband' here!!!
I know!! I had to laugh!! ::)
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Just joining in to get some new ideas for cooking with DD! She loves to help out, and has a very dull toddler knife that she uses to "chop" things. She mostly helps with prepping veggies for salad and stuff and measuring out ingredients for salad dressing and bread. She loves using the salad spinner after we've washed the lettuce for salad! We made pizza last week, which she really enjoyed, but mostly ate her fill of the toppings as we were putting them on the pizza so that she didn't want much of the pizza once it was ready to eat :)
This week I plan on making some oatmeal raisin cookies with her, my recipe says to use the mixer to cream the butter and sugar but I think we will do it by hand so that I don't have to worry about DD sticking her hand in while the mixer is running. Also will be tricky to get DD to keep her hands out after the raw egg goes in...gotta try it sometime so they learn right :)
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I'm all for raising good homemakers, but I want my boys (if I have any) to make their future homes good ones too! The author does say herself though that she only has girls so that's why she writes about girls. Interesting read anyway :)
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We made pizza last week
Here too. I used the home made naan bread as a pizza base and DS chopped cherry toms, mushrooms etc for the toppings.
We do eggs here. I made sure I have a wet wash cloth ready for if/when he dips his finger into it but mostly he does follow the instruction not to touch. We've made eggy bread several times and a few days back scrambled egg although he only ate one mouthful of that. He rarely eats eggs but the eggy bread has been a big hit recently so we keep making it to get a bit of protein into him.
We made a pudding last week. It was an adaptation of a German apple pudding, we used bananas and blackberries instead of apples as I had so many and the bananas had ripened beyond the point that any of us likes to eat them. I think it's possibly the ugliest pudding you could serve up, but tasty! Nana and DP were raving over it (nice with some icecream!) and DS had a huge portion. It's nice for DS the following day just served cold too so none of the fruit went to waste. Nana was amazed DS had made it and been telling all the relatives! The proud grandmother!
Cheese sandwich has been a big hit here. Sandwiches are often looked at with suspicion by DS but when he made it himself (grated the cheese, spread butter and mayo, snipped spring onion, chopped toms and cut sandwich in half) he ate the lot with great enthusiasm.
He's also made his supper veg a few times, peeling carrot and chopping into batons, then dumping into the steamer, snapping asparagus, and mangetout just gets dumped in as it is. he was saying and showing me 'snap, snap' with the asparagus when he was eating it so the idea of doing the cooking certainly had an impact.
Unfortunately he got a bit wild (prob OS, and tired by that point) when washing up and I had to take him from the kitchen. Bit of a foot stamp tantrum over that but it wasn't safe to have him stood up on a chair grabbing all sorts, going wild. I have of course opened a can of worms letting him stand on a chair at the work surface because the thought had never occurred to him before and now he knows he can get at anything.
All in all going well here.
Katy, I haven't had a chance to look at the site you posted yet but I'm with the rest of you that boys need house skills too. Who wants to marry a man who doesn't vac, cook, wash dishes and do the laundry? besides, teenagers need all these skills when you kick them out of the house to fend for themselves ;)
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Great update Creations :) Sounds like your DS is a natural. Do you mind sharing the pudding recipe?
I have of course opened a can of worms letting him stand on a chair at the work surface because the thought had never occurred to him before and now he knows he can get at anything
lol..that happened here too, still happens actually. I had to find new hiding spots for lots of things :)
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German Apple Pudding Cake (recipe off the internet but I don't have a link for it)
4 apples peeled, sliced
1 cup sugar
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla or almond essence
2-3 tsp butter
2 cups boiling water
oven 200 deg C. 40 min
In a deep 9 x 9" dish
MIX sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon
ADD apples, coat in the flour mixture
ADD milk and essence
STIR
SMOOTH surface
DOT with butter
PLACE on oven rack then ADD boiling water
DO NOT STIR
BAKE 40 min
That's the basic recipe (I can rarely follow a recipe properly). I made this without sugar and it was fine. I also added 1/2 cup of dried fruit and used vanilla extract rather than essence.
I also put a baking tray on the shelf below to catch any over flow!
DS's version Blackberry and Banana Pudding
4 or 5 ripe bananas, chopped
1 cup blackberries (we had so many I froze them and used them from frozen)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla paste
1/2 cup milk
4-5 tsp butter
2 cups boiling water
Same method only when we stirred the fruit into the dry flour mix we also mashed some of the banana up a bit. I don't think we needed the sugar but I had forgotten that I'd successfully omitted it the previous time I made with apples. I could also taste the salt in this so I think I'll reduce it next time.
For the measuring out I gave DS a smaller measuring spoon to scoop the sugar and flour with, then put the larger cup/half cup measure inside the mixing bowl so any spillages were caught when he tipped out his scoop. I think there was just enough involvement to keep him interested, measuring, chopping, adding and mixing the fruit in the dry mix. He did lose interest just before the milk went in (think he needed a wee!) so i did that part on my own and he came back and half joined in for the butter being dotted on top.
I positioned his little table right in front of the oven for this cooking session. Watched him like a hawk too but the table prevented him getting to the oven which was preheating. He also enjoyed wiping up the table and floor to clean up when we were done.
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Ah, that's lovely! So glad he's enjoying it.
Had a fab session today, completely unplanned. Went out in the garden and a few veg were ready. DS decided we should make them into soup, so we added a few bits from the fridge and did! He joined in with everything, even stirring on the stove. Tasted along the way and then wolfed a bowl down. Amazing considering he's not really into veg at the moment.
Days like this make me feel like maybe I'm doing something right :-):-)
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Ooh that sounds wonderful!
Would you believe, DS has never had soup. Every now and then I think about making some and serving with some bread for him to dip but I never get around to it, partially because I keep thinking he won't get enough to eat. He's not particularly good with a spoon or open cup yet so I have visions of soup all over the place and a hungry little boy at the end of it. I should try it though as I used to make lots of soups.
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DD loves soup! When I portion it out into her bowl I just give her more of the veggies, meat, noodles and not so much broth so she doesn't have too much liquid to contend with. She's also a big dipper, so she loves dipping her toast or crackers into it. I will have to start making soup with her once the weather gets a bit cooler here :)
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Days like this make me feel like maybe I'm doing something right :-):-)
Beautiful!!
Creations- Hamish doesn't mind soup- he drinks it in an open cup usually. You might find that if it;s a thick vegetable soup (like pumpkin say) rahter than a thin brothy one that it might be easier for him to manage the open cup? It will flow slower? You could put it in a wide sippy too perhaps?
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Yes, good idea.
I half suspect he wouldn't like the wetness of soup, even a thick one, but I can't really say that until I've tried. For all I know it could be a a big hit.