Kid Friendly Cooking - Feeding Pennsylvania

There are so many reasons (and benefits) to getting children involved in the kitchen!

1. Getting children involved can increase interest in food and cooking. Cooking is an important skill for children to learn and the more involved they get, the more likely they are to find it enjoyable.

2. The kitchen is a great place to learn, and the learning goes far beyond cooking skills. Cooking is a great opportunity for following directions, practicing math and reading, learning about nutrition and health and you can even do a science project or two!

3. The kitchen allows children to use all their senses. Not all experiences engage all your senses. Think about cooking dinner, you get to: touch (with clean hands) all the ingredients, you can smell the foods before and while they cook, you can see all the bright colors of the foods, you can hear the opening of packages, the crunching of crisp vegetables and the sizzling as the food cooks, and of course the tasting as you go and when it is complete!

4. Cooking is a good way to spend time together, with so much going on in our busy lives, cooking together can be a way to add in some extra time before enjoying the meal together.

5. Being involved in the cooking process can lead to healthy dietary habits. Children tend to try new things and are more adventurous with their food when they are a part of it all.

Children of all ages can get involved in the kitchen. The link below gives age appropriate ideas:

https://www.eatright.org/homefoodsafety/four-steps/cook/teaching-kids-to-cook

Through our partnership with PA Eats and their Nourish PA series, we are excited to share some kid friendly recipes for you all to try!