Off to the kitchen – cooking with children!

No matter whether shopping, preparing, or cooking – children love to dive into the world of adults and help out around the house. Even during play, little ones enjoy taking on different roles and imitating everyday situations. From about the age of three, you can slowly involve your child as a little helper with daily tasks. This naturally includes preparing family meals together. Simple tasks like choosing ingredients, setting the table, or washing vegetables can already be done independently by the little kitchen helpers. The important thing is that children are never left unsupervised during these activities. Why not try the next recipe together and let yourself be assisted while cooking? At the beginning, a simple dish is especially suitable so the little ones can take on some tasks now and then. Our suggestion for cooking with children: colorful roasted vegetables. The recipe is quick to prepare, simple, tasty, and healthy.

Preparations in the Kitchen

When cooking with children, be sure to allow plenty of time. It’s a completely new experience not only for the little ones but also for the parents. Especially in the kitchen, chaos can quickly arise and things can go wrong. Handling kitchen appliances and the hot oven can quickly become dangerous. Therefore, it’s advisable to take it slow and teach the kitchen novices step by step. Under supervision, children can experiment with harmless items while cooking. First, gather all utensils and ingredients together with your child and assign tasks. Once the preparations are done, you can get started. For the colorful roasted vegetables, you will need the following ingredients:

Ingredients for Colorful Roasted Vegetables:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 carrots
• 2 large tomatoes
• 250 g mushrooms
• 300 g potatoes
• 1 onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 tablespoons oil

Preparation of Colorful Roasted Vegetables

First, wash the zucchini, bell pepper, and tomatoes. The little kitchen helpers can already do this step on their own. Show your child how to do it once and let them experiment a bit. Next, peel the carrots, potatoes, and onion. Once all ingredients are cleaned and peeled, it’s time to chop. Dice the vegetables into small pieces and explain carefully while cutting what to watch out for to avoid injury. Then put all the ingredients on a baking sheet and mix well. Finally, add salt, pepper, and rosemary. Then bake everything for 30 minutes at 200°C. While the colorful roasted vegetables are cooking, you can tidy up the kitchen and set the table together with the children.

Cooking with Children: Practice Makes Perfect

The shared cooking experience is not only a lot of fun but also promotes your child’s development. There is much to discover in the kitchen, and the curiosity of the little aspiring chefs is awakened. Until the next cooking session, children can practice what they have learned so far in their own little play kitchen with the howa cutting set “Fruits and Vegetables.”