Cooking with Toddlers: Tips for Teaching Your Little One to Cook

Obviously, it`s important to be safe when you are dealing with things like knives and hot stoves, so here are a few safety rules to keep in mind when cooking with toddlers. Most of them are just common sense, but remember that toddlers are at that tricky age when they may appear to know what they`re doing, but then turn around and try slicing their brother`s ear off, just to see what happens!

• Supervise at all times. Toddlers tend to get into stuff lightening fast! Gather all the ingredients you`ll need, plus equipment BEFORE you start the cooking process so you won`t have to turn away during it.


• Remind them of the dangers. Every time you cook together, let your toddler know, "Stoves are hot, don`t touch. Knives are sharp. Only Mommy uses the knife."


• Keep dangerous stuff out of reach. You knew this one already, but it`s good to remind parents!


• Watch out for falls. Since your little one is most likely going to be sitting on the counter or standing on a chair, make sure they aren`t in danger of falling, or consider investing in a special stool that has a rail to keep kids on the right level, but still safe.

There are a few things that will cooking with toddlers easier. Remember that children this age are still not very coordinated and often need both hands to perform a task like stirring or spreading jam. With that in mind, you can make the whole process a little easier on both of you with these tips.

Use big handled items. For stirring, a small child will find it easier if the handle of the spoon is big enough to grasp easily. The same goes for butter knives, look for handles that are the size of your thumb or slightly bigger and round for easy gripping.

Make it a group effort. Cooking with one toddler is fun, but getting another kid in on the action is even better. Then let them sit down and enjoy the fruit of their labor together.

Hold the bowl. A piece of no-slip matting (the kind that goes under carpet) will help keep the mixing bowl from sliding around, but you can also hold it steady so your little one will be able to stir properly.

Wait for the mood to strike. There`s no point in forcing your kids to cook with you . . . it will only make them resent it. But, by making some fun recipes and offering them tastes and making the whole thing seem like a lot of fun, you can bet they`ll join you pretty quick.

Let them choose. Toddlers love being able to make big kid choices, so you can feed their need for being in control by providing them with options . . . "Do you want to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich or a ham sandwich?" Letting them choose the fixings for their own salad is another way to let your kids have their say in the food they eat.

Make it fun. Cooking with toddlers is messy. The results are often less than stellar. You need to realize this beforehand and accept that there will be a disaster . . . and not get upset with your toddler. He won`t be interested in continuing the cooking with you if he thinks he`s going to get in trouble for accidentally spattering cake batter on the counter.

Not sure where to get started? Well, that`s what this Cooking with Toddlers lens is for! Here are a few things that are very fun for toddlers to help you make. You might also consider investing in some kid cookbooks full of child-friendly recipes and then let your toddler help you pick out which foods he or she wants to make with you.

No heat or stove involvement means salads and sandwiches are ideal toddler food. Plus, hopefully they`ll be more likely to eat what they helped put together!

To make a salad with your toddler, let him help you wash the lettuce in the sink and tear it into bite size pieces while you are chopping the other veggies. Then let him add the veggies and help toss the salad.

Sandwiches can be fun, too, let your toddler spread the mayonnaise (pre-measured by you!) and choose the ingredients to go on top. I`d suggest setting out some options ahead of time, such as ham, sliced olives, tomatoes, cheese and lettuce.

Make a quick and yummy spread for toast by mixing equal amounts of butter and honey with a shake of cinnamon . . . zap in the microwave for 20 seconds to soften it up so kids can stir. Spread the creamy mixture on toast and enjoy!
These are super simple and yet give your toddler a taste of cooking and getting his hands into the dirty business of cooking!

While any kind of cookie can be fun to mix up with your toddler, sugar cookies are particularly good, since you can cut them into fun shapes with cookie cutters! Kids LOVE to do this, though you may need to help very small ones press down hard enough. Don`t worry if some of the cookies turn out wonky, it`s all part of the fun.

Easy Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350º.
Blend butter and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and blend well before adding all dry ingredients. Stir until well combined and then roll out and start cutting away. You might want to chill the dough for a couple of hours to make it easier to handle.

Bake for 10 min. and let cool on a cookie rack before serving to impatient toddlers!

Smoothies are a yummy way to "cook" with your little one and you`ll get some healthy stuff into them, too!



A smoothie can literally consist of anything you can find in your fridge that`s fresh. Bananas, strawberries, papaya and pineapple all make great bases for a smoothie. Add milk or water or even yogurt to add some extra creaminess.

Your smoothie can consist of just one or two ingredients (like bananas and strawberries) or a huge range of combinations. For picky eaters, a little chocolate syrup in a banana/milk smoothie makes a chocolate milkshake that is healthy and tasty. You can substitute cocoa powder for an even healthier option. Some fun combinations include:

- Banana, strawberry, papaya and milk
- Yogurt and peaches
- Bananas, blueberries, yogurt, milk
- Peaches, blueberries, milk
- Orange juice, blueberries, bananas

An essential skill that kids need to learn is spreading. The best way to do this is to hand them a butter knife and something to spread.

You`ll have best results if the object receiving the spread is fairly hard, like a cracker or toast. Soft bread often tears and can frustrate a small child . . . you may want to hold it in place for him since it takes a lot of concentration to deal with the knife.

The spread should be fairly soft. Don`t expect your toddler to manage hard butter, for example. Some good choices for spreads include mayonnaise, jam, soft peanut butter (zap for a second in the microwave if needed, in a small bowl), Nutella, and soft cream cheese.

There`s nothing better for cooking with toddlers than pizza. Even picky eaters love to eat pizza and more so if they`ve made it themselves! You have two options here, the quick and dirty pizza or the real pizza.



If you have very little time or few ingredients, the quick and dirty method works well. Little kids really don`t care if their pizza is traditional or not, so go wild. You need a base, which can be anything from a bagel sliced in half to a piece of bread. Then spread on a little tomato sauce (pasta sauce works well, but even ketchup is fine in a pinch) and let your toddler add cheese and his or her favorite toppings. Stick it in the oven or broiler for a few minutes, until the cheese melts and voila! Pizza.

Now, if you want something a bit more traditional, you can buy pre-made crusts in the supermarket. Spread some tomato sauce on the crust and then let your little one go nuts with cheese, ham, tomatoes, pepperoni, pineapple, olives, peppers, or whatever you want to eat on your pizza. This is a fun way for kids to sneak a few bites of veggies, too!

When you`re doing pizza with your toddler, it`s a good idea to chop the ingredients beforehand, or she`ll get bored waiting for stuff to put on. Show her how to make a face with olives and a tomato wedge and use your imagination to create a great design on your pizza.

We all know knives are dangerous for little fingers, but how does your toddler get the experience needed? Butter knives and soft food!

Here are a few things your little one can start chopping up with a dull butter knife:

Mushrooms
Cheese
Cookies
Toast
Cooked carrots
Butter/margarine
Avocado, peeled and pitted
Bananas
Strawberries

Let`s face it, toddlers are messy creatures. So why not take advantage of that messiness and turn it into something good?

Mashing food is fun for little people and it keeps them busy while you`re doing other things in the kitchen. So, what can you mash?

Guacamole
Scoop the meat of one avocado into a bowl and let your toddler have at it with a fork or potato masher. When she`s done, add a sprinkle of garlic powder, a squeeze of lime juice and some chopped tomatoes. Serve with pita or toast. Mmmmm.

Mashed Potatoes
Let the potatoes cool a little before you let your toddler mash them. Add some garlic and milk and butter as she smushes those potatoes and finish it up yourself when those little arms get weary.

Cheese Balls
Fancy a party? Put a cup of crumbled cheddar cheese into a Ziploc bag along with half a cup of cream cheese. Seal the bag well and let your toddler smash and rub and mash the bag with her hot little hands until the cheese is well-blended. Cool in the fridge for a couple of hours, then take the cheese mixture out and make little balls (kids can help with this, too!), roll them in cracker crumbs or dried herbs and stick a toothpick into each one before serving chilled.

Anything else that needs to be squished or mashed can be done by your toddler and you`ll both have a blast.

Cooking with toddlers has an unexpected benefit . . . kids like to eat their creations! In our house, this is sometimes the only way to get my youngest (3) to eat anything green. He will also eat anything his big brother (4) makes for him, so when my four year old decided to make a fancy pasta dish from a magazine, I was happy. It had peas and mint in it!

My son worked hard to prepare the dish, he even (with extreme care and careful supervision) sauteed the garlic and browned the breadcrumbs himself! When it was finished, he presented the dish to his little brother and cousin and they all gobbled it down!

It's amazing how much more interested your kids are in eating when they had a hand in the preparation. It's well worth the extra mess, let me tell you! And now my son has plans to do a chimichurri lamb dish that he got out of my epicure magazine!