Lockdown has been hard for everyone… and keeping our little ones entertained when you can’t leave the house can sometimes feel almost impossible.
Our friends and neighbours of The Avenue Cookery School have come up with 10 top tips for cooking with children that will bring a new lease of life into your kitchens!
- First of all, get your little ones to have a look through your cookbooks and let them choose the recipe they want to make. This will get your child excited about what they are about to cook.
- Get the music playing! At The Avenue Cookery School there is never a quiet moment; we get the tunes playing, the dance moves out and make our baking session rise from a 6 to a 9 in no time. Perhaps you could help us make a cooking playlist together? Get in touch and let us know your favourite tunes!
- Variety is key! Experiment with different flavours. Who wants to eat a plain Victoria sponge every time anyway? Let your littles ones test out the vanilla, try some cocoa powder or play around with citrus zests – they will have more fun and you will be left with a delicious and different cake!
- Cooking with children isn’t just about baking, why not try something savoury - homemade pasta or gnocchi is a great place to start. Fun, hands-on and delicious!
- Start a herb garden - even if you haven’t got a garden, all you need is a sunny window sill and you can grow all sorts. Cress is a good place to start and children will LOVE watching it grow! This will also teach your children an appreciation for homegrown ingredients and where their foods come from!
- Create a week’s menu-plan together and stick it on the fridge. They can even give all the dishes funny names e.g.: see-in-the-dark soup (carrot soup), etc. We have our very own Avenue Menu Planner which you can use to start yourself off, if you’d like to receive it please do get in touch!
- For the younger children, when the cooking gets too difficult, you can give them jobs that keep them engaged. They will feel they are being super helpful, when really it is just a simple or small task at a time… Why not try measuring out water in a jug or stirring the flour?
- Make cooking educational… bring Science, Maths and English into the kitchen! Your STEAM activities could be finding out how yeast works, how many grams are there in a kilo, and your English lesson could be reading the ingredients label or recipe out loud!
- Next, a favourite and helpful tip when trying to keep the kitchen tidy. Make everything a game, i.e., imagine the surface is made of lava and you only have 3 lives - if you get something out of the bowl and into the lava you lose a life! And if you do, there’s always a chance to try again!
- Finally, you may watch our amazing Kids Cook-Along Livestreams on our IGTV (more details on this below)!
We hope you have some fun with these cooking tips and remember The Avenue Cookery School is always happy to help!
You may join their mailing list by visiting their website and follow them on social media to receive livestream timings, recipes, games, tips and tricks and general Avenue fun to your home!
Facebook: @theavenuecookeryschool
Instagram: @avenuecookery
Website: theavenuecookeryschool.com
Email: info@theavenuecookeryschool.com
Tel: +44 20 8874 7623
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