Cooking with the kids

Introduce your child to the market

For a child, the market is a place rich in discoveries. The fishmonger’s stall and its wriggling crabs, vegetables and fruits of all colors. Show him the products you choose and explain to him where they come from, how they grow… Back home, collect the ingredients for your recipe.

Be careful when the child is in the kitchen

When preparing the countertop, be sure to put anything that could be dangerous out of reach. We do not compromise with safety: no dragging knives or sticking pan shanks. As for the oven, hotplates, and electrical appliances, be clear: it is you and you alone who are in charge. On the other hand, we remain indulgent if, at the end of the session, the cooking is a little “floured”. Cooking with children means accepting some excesses, both literally and figuratively.

Do not neglect hygiene in the kitchen with the child

First of all, start your cooking workshop with a good hand washing session. Little girls’ long hair should be tied back. And for everyone, we opt for tight aprons close to the body.

Instill a balanced diet in your child

Now is the moment, casually, to start laying the foundations of an education that will continue for a long time: knowing foods, appreciating them, knowing how to combine them, all of this is essential for a balanced diet. So we explain to them: rice, pasta, fries are good, but only from time to time. And we play the vegetable card in soup, gratins, julienne. Don’t hesitate to empower them, they love it. Cooking develops both autonomy and a taste for teamwork.

From 3 years old: encourage the child to participate in the kitchen

From the age of 3, a little one has understood that helping you prepare a soup or a cake is an opportunity to discover new flavors and to “do like mum or dad”. The air of nothing, it thus develops its interest for the food “pleasure”, which is at the base of any nutritional balance. Give it small tasks: knead a dough, add melted chocolate, separate a white from a yolk, beat eggs into an omelet. Choose colorful recipes: they will captivate his attention. But do not embark on long and complicated preparations, his patience, like yours, would not resist.

From 5 years old: cooking is mathematical

In the kitchen, not only do we have fun and then feast, but in addition, we learn a lot of things! Weighing 200 g of flour, measuring 1/2 liter of milk, it’s a real learning process. Entrust him with your scale, he will give it to his heart. Older children can try to decipher the recipe, with your help, if necessary. The opportunity to show him that writings are used to transmit knowledge, but also skills.