While you’re cooking, let your child hold the ingredients; talk about what they look like, how they feel and smell, where they came from and discuss how you think the recipe will turn out. The more familiar children are with ingredients and the more they feel involved in the process, the more likely they are to eat the food at the end.
• There’s no escaping the fact that cooking and baking with children is going to be messy, so get organised before you start.
• Have old newspapers at the ready to cover anything and everything – mess can then easily be scooped up afterwards.
• If you have aprons – great! But if you don’t, use old, baggy shirts to cover your child’s clothes.
• Give them a larger-than-needed bowl for stirring the mixture to reduce splashing and spills.
• Cover your recipe book (or i-pad!) in plastic if you’re worried about it getting damaged.
• Allow double the time you think you’ll need for the recipe – give children plenty of time to explore all the ingredients (and the equipment) before you start.
• If you’ve got more than one child, think ahead about who can do which tasks to avoid arguments.