Most kids love helping in the kitchen, and teaching them how to cook and bake is a way to create a lifetime of sweet memories. Cooking and baking are rewarding lifelong skills that are not only fun, but also help build confidence and provide numerous opportunities for learning. Baking, in particular, is a great way to introduce kids to the joys of being in the kitchen, since most baking recipes tend to be fairly straightforward. Read on for our helpful tips when baking with kids to make your next culinary adventure a success for the whole family.
Tips for Baking with Kids
Encourage kids to try making “real” recipes, not just “kid-friendly” versions so they are exposed to a wide variety of tastes and cuisines at a young age. If kids have a hand in making the food, then they are much more likely to try eating it. A good way to get a picky eater to try something is to have them help to make it.
For those new to the kitchen, try starting with no-bake recipes, or recipes that use a microwave to keep it super simple. Give kids tasks that use their hands, like measuring ingredients, washing fruits and vegetables, tearing lettuce, patting dough out and crushing cookies or crackers. Grating cheese and peeling vegetables are also good tasks, but should be supervised since peelers and graters are very sharp for little fingers.
As soon as kids have the dexterity to hold a knife, teach them how to use it safely and properly. All kids are different, but this usually happens around ages 4-6. For younger chefs, start by letting them use a butter knife, and then progress onto smaller utensils like the Le Creuset Paring, Santoku or Bread knives.
When kids progress to using a stove or oven for a recipe, be sure to offer help with pots and pans. They can be heavy when full, and little hands might have trouble carrying or maneuvering them on the stove or to/from the oven. To make it easier, look for kid-sized tools and smaller versions of pots and pans. Colorful individual serving dishes are great for kids, like our Stackable Ramekins and Mini Cocottes, for the perfect kid-friendly size.
"Baking is a form of love, meant to be shared with anyone old or young"
Molly
Le Creuset Category Manager
The Le Creuset Family Bakeware Set
To make baking with kids even more enjoyable, we recently launched the Le Creuset Family Bakeware Set. The inspiration for this new collection came from within our own marketing team. Molly, Le Creuset Category Manager, shared with us that some of her favorite memories as a child were spent baking in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother. With these memories in mind and noticing an opportunity in the marketplace, we thought of creating a fun, playful, yet “real” bakeware set geared towards kids. Its functionality is true Le Creuset with an added bit of flare – meant to be shared, hand in hand.
The set includes everything needed to bake cupcakes, muffins and more plus five exclusive kid-friendly recipes and a kid-sized chef hat. Brightly colored and fun, the durable tools are the perfect way to get kids excited about baking, and a delicious way to encourage curiosity and learning in your little chef.
