Coronavirus: How to get children involved in the kitchen

Covid-19 is the perfect time to teach young children kitchen basics.

Teach the older ones how to make a cup of tea, and a slice of toast.

If you have the time, maybe you could make homemade pasta together. Here's my recipe which doesn't use any eggs...

For children 3 and under:

Washing vegetables

Stirring ingredients

Mashing with a fork or potato masher

Sprinkling - flour, cake decorations and icing sugar, put a tray underneath to avoid too much mess

Spooning ingredients onto scales

For children 3-5:

Weighing or washing fruit and vegetables

Cutting soft ingredients e.g. butter, mushrooms, strawberries using a strong plastic knife

Flouring (balance the sieve over a bowl and tap it rather than shaking it around! )

Using a pestle and mortar

Kneading

Rolling, shaping and cutting dough

Spreading: buttering bread and spreading icing

Podding, picking and hulling

For Children 5-7:

Grating

Measuring

Rubbing in: rubbing in flour and butter with fingertips is called for in many recipes

Beating and folding (egg whites without knocking out too much air )

Greasing and lining a cake tin or tray

Peel oranges or hard-boiled eggs

Setting the table

For 8-11:

Cutting using a small knife (keep fingertips out of the way )

Measuring

Basic maths

Rubbing in: rubbing in flour and butter with fingertips

Beating and folding

Greasing and lining a cake tin or tray

Setting the table

Hopefully this will help to keep those kids busy while we're all in lockdown!