Find the Best Children Recipes
and Kitchen Hints

If you're cooking every day, the kitchen may seem more like an office. For your children however, the kitchen can be an exciting place. Children-friendly recipes are a great way to get your kids involved in cooking. With a few easy safety rules, children recipes can allow your kids to be creative and have fun with cooking.

The first thing when it comes to children in the kitchen is safety. Even seasoned chefs can get careless and cut or burn themselves. For that reason, you will want to be careful when it comes to hot stoves and ovens, as well as cutting tools. When you feel your child is ready, it's ok to let them use a sharp knife with a small handle that they can grip securely. Make sure to teach your child about how to carry a knife safely, and how to properly use a cutting board. Instead of holding the food with the free hand, you may want them to hold the food steady with a fork so that they won't cut their free hand.

When your children recipes call for the stove or oven, be sure to use hot pads when handling hot baking sheets or pans. Since steam is the cause of most burns, take extra care when dealing with hot liquids or boiling water, especially when removing the lid. Warn your kids to stay away from fried foods that may be spattering oil. Finally, don't let them leave a metal utensil like a spatula or a spoon in a hot pan, as it will heat up as well, leading to possible burns.

Once you've covered all the ground rules for safety and proper hand washing (especially if you're working with raw meat or eggs), you're ready to get cooking. A good place to start with children recipes is with their favorite foods. Pancakes are easy to make and easy to cook, and flipping them can be a lot of fun, especially when they don't land where or how you expect them to. Baked goods like muffins or sugar cookies are also good. Your kids can have fun decorating, but don't make too many, or they may get bored and wander off.

Holidays are a wonderful excuse to invite your children into the kitchen. It makes the occassions so much more fun when they proudly bring to the table the desert that they made. I know we have favorite Jewish recipes that we use with our children so that the traditions will be carried on.