Cooking with kids
We think it’s essential to get children hands on with food from an early age, to help lay the foundations of life-long healthy eating habits. Keeping tots close to you in the kitchen, getting them familiar with ingredients and experimenting with new foods and flavours all influence little ones’ eating habits, helping them to cultivate a love of food.
We have created a Little Chef’s Skills Chart, so budding little chefs can track their progress in the kitchen. Download it here, pop it on the fridge and celebrate with stickers each time they master a new skill. All of our family-friendly recipes also have a special job for little helpers, so they can enjoy getting busy in the kitchen.
Eating as a family
Mealtimes are a great way to connect and communicate as a family – a chance to hear about your little one’s day, and share stories. Eating together is also a really good way to encourage young children to try new tastes, as they learn from copying other family members. And, of course, it helps little ones get the hang of table manners!
Teaching your toddler about seasonality
A sure fire way to foster an early love of food is to teach children where it comes from, and an important part of that is learning about seasonality. Seasonal produce tastes better and is more likely to be grown close to home, so is fresher and more nutritious. Download our handy guide to eating fresh all year round, and see how many fruit & veg your little foodie can name.
Foodie fun for the family
- Plant a Herb Garden. Herbs taste great, smell beautiful and are easy to grow, popping their little shoots out of the soil in as little as a week. You can buy ready made kits or use old yoghurt pots with a hole cut out of the bottom for drainage.
- Start a Veg Patch. Our Nutritionist, Lucy Jones, says, “Little ones love planting seeds and watching them grow. Tomatoes, courgettes and cress all grow really well. If tots are encouraged to have a role in growing, picking, washing, chopping and helping to prepare a meal, they’re far more likely to want to eat it".
- Easy as 1,2,3. Cooking is a great opportunity for little ones to practice their counting. Encouraging them to count out the different number of fruits and vegetables needed for a recipe helps them to understand that a number corresponds to an amount, which can help with adding and subtracting down the line.
- Go Berry Picking. Hunting for juicy berries is a lovely way to learn where food comes from and something children of all ages will love. Find your nearest pick-your-own farm by visiting www.pickyourownfarms.org.uk.
