GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Holiday baking and cooking can be simple and easy for you and your children with a helpful Holiday Snack Guide from Hy-Vee.
Almost every aspect of learning can be incorporated into cooking. For instance, measuring out ingredients can help math skills, and watching water boil can be considered a science project.
Children are more likely to try food if they helped prepare it. It helps build their self-esteem by allowing them to see and taste their results, and they feel a sense of pride when they see others enjoying what they've helped create. It is also an opportunity to spend quality time with the family.
Cooking tips by age:
- Children 2 and under:
- Should be kept a safe distance from the food preparation using high chairs, safety gates or playpens. Make sure that there is nothing that they can climb onto such as cabinets or countertops. Remove tablecloths or hanging towels to help prevent the child from pulling hot items onto themselves.
- 3-year-olds:
- Tear lettuce, wash fruits and vegetables, stir ingredients and pour liquids.
- 4-year-olds:
- Open packages, grease pans, peel hard-boiled eggs, mash potatoes with a fork and snip herbs with dull scissors.
- 5-6-year-olds:
- Cut soft foods with a blunt knife, set the table and measure ingredients.
- 7-8-year-olds:
- Roll and shape dough, use a whisk to beat ingredients and locate ingredients in the kitchen.
- 9-12-year-olds:
- Use a vegetable peeler, assemble a salad, prepare simple recipes, shred cheese and vegetables, use an oven (with adult supervision), and use a sharp knife (with adult supervision).
- 13-17-year-olds:
- Able to independently prepare recipes with multiple ingredients.
Hy-Vee is also offering holiday cooking classes for parents and their little ones on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9. For more information and to register for Wednesday's class, click here. To register for Thursday's class, click here.
For fun snack ideas and recipes, click here.