Hello!

As the school holidays stretch on and the rain pelts down, it would be super easy to stock up on DVDs and let the kids lie on the lounge all day.  Until of course, the arguments about ‘what we’ll watch’, ‘who’s on the bean bag’ and ‘you’re lying on my foot’ break out and I wonder whether that plan was in fact a good one.

 

Craft is always an option too – my kids love gluing, cutting, pasting, cutting, drawing, cutting … until the dining room table resembles a glitter pot and the floor is hidden beneath a pile of tiny paper offcuts that my vacuum cleaner and my patience have a big problem dealing with.  And whilst I love all their creations, the problem of storing all their materpieces becomes a massive undertaking in itself.

 

So, on days like today, I get into the kitchen and get cooking with kids.  To be honest, it doesn’t matter what we end up cooking.  But today, Gran is here and the kids wanted to make pasta (like they did last time she was here).

My thinking is cooking with kids ticks lots of boxes:

 

1. We have some fun together – yes ALL my kids and I

2. The kids learn a new skill that may come in handy later on in life

3. The kids start to gain an understanding of how ingredients come together to make a meal

4. We create something that can be enjoyed together and when they’ve been involved, you can guarantee they’ll gobble it all up

 

So today, my ‘cooking with kids’ project was RAVIOLI.  Sounds difficult but it’s actually quite straightforward once you’ve done it a few times.  My kids have even mastered the pasta machine and do quite a good job of working together (!!!)  There’s also enough steps in the process for each of them to have a specific job (so no fighting over who’s rolling, who’s filling, who’s crimping the edges!)

 

Cooking with kids is an all-time holiday favourite in our house.  This holiday my 11 year old has mastered Teriyaki Chicken (complete with sesame seeds and sushi rice), little miss 7 is now in charge of our pizza dough and my littlest poppet does the best diced carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant (yes, we now eat EVERYTHING DICED).  And thanks to our newest purchase, a DeLonghi Nespresso Machine, all 3 now know exactly how to make my coffee!!  Flat White (light blue Nespresso capsule) and 3/4 teaspoon sugar.

 

Why don’t you get Cooking with Kids?  Everything you teach them, they’ll remember and even better, they’ll remember it as a wonderful time they spent time with you (or Gran in our case this holidays).

 

When you’re cooking with kids, what’s your favourite dish to cook?  How old were your kids when you started cooking with your kids?

 

Much MoM Love,

Nikki

This post written by Nikki Hills, Mum of 4 and Founder of Mouths of Mums®. Nikki has worked in marketing, advertising and communications for close to 20 years and created Mouths of Mums® to give real mums a space to connect and trial and review products for free. Mouths of Mums® was also founded to give brands the opportunity to connect with real mums and truly understand what they need to do in order to deliver products that meet mums’ needs and will therefore be embraced by real mums.

You can also follow Mouths of Mums (& Nikki) on Facebook or on Twitter – there’s always so much happening!

 

 

 

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  • I bought a pasta maker a couple of years ago and still haven’t used it.
    I get scared I’m going to stuff it up and then I would have wasted all those ingredients but I guess there’s nothing like the present to start learning something new and it would be great to get the kids involved.
    I guess if it all goes bad we can just make play dough out of it! Lol

    Reply

  • Not only good for personal skills, but also a range of others like practical, fine and macro motor skills and communication too

    Reply

  • Such a essential life skill too

    Reply

  • I have lost count of how many times there has been an argument as to who chose the last DVD.
    The elder one of the two has got very sneaky, chooses what she wants and tells the younger one it is the same with a different name. One the very rare occasion I get the younger one to change it to one I like too when the elder one has decided to go and do something else. She comes back, throws a tantrum and storms off or snatches the control and changes it if I go to check on a baby I am minding.

    Reply

  • Yep, great activity to do with the kids. Teaches them how to cook too which they need to know how to do when they leave home. It’s messy, but good fun

    Reply

  • We loved cooking bread. I started when my child was 14 months.

    Reply

  • cooking with kids is fab, they make memories of being with you

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  • I have just bought a pasta machine and the kids are always fighting to have a turn. Great family memories made :)

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  • Cooking with kids is wonderful!

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  • so i noticed that some of these comments are 2 years old now lol. i think that it is great to cook with the kids and they also aren’t carrying on or fighting. they enjoy helping and learn skills. i want them to be used to and know their way around the kitchen so that they will be able to take care of themselves when they get older.

    Reply

  • My kids loce to explore cooking

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  • I love cooking with my kids, I’ve learnt to suck up the extra mess.

    Reply

  • You can make pretty much anything with kids you just need to know when to let them help and when to let them watch

    Reply

  • I love cooking with my girls we cook about 3 to 4 times a week and yes its messy but it doesnt matter they are happy which is the main thing

    Reply

  • Thanks for sharing great read

    Reply

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