The Online Edition

Cooking with Kids
by Kate Heyhoe
Originally published as Cooking with Kids for Dummies
by IDG Books

We add chapters, tips and recipes from the book each month...

 
 

 

Kids' Kitchen Tools and Pint-Size Equipment

 

You'll want to include these cookware essentials, shown in the photo, in your kid's cooking kit.

 

Young chefs cook best with their own personal set of tools.

• Measuring spoon set
• Measuring cups: one for dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients
• Wooden spoon
• Apron or large t-shirt
• Potholders and/or oven mitts
• Small knife (plastic, paring, or as appropriate for your child)
• Vegetable peeler
• Safety scissors
• Rubber spatula
• Small cutting board

After your young chef has a personal set of equipment, think about providing a permanent place for all these great tools. It can be just about any type of container, as long as it's easily accessible to the child and not stuck away in a closet piled under stacks of linens or other things. Here's a few suggestions for places in which to store your kid's cookware:

• A large, lower kitchen drawer
• An industrial-sized lunchbox, the kind used by construction workers
• A portable tool kit
• A cardboard file box, known as a banker's box
• A plastic storage box, with handles and lid

 

Assemble the items first (before deciding on a container), adding any equipment from your own kitchen that you want your child to have (like a melon baller, rolling pin, whisk, or other tools—see Chapter 3 for more ideas). Then, make sure that the area for your child's tools is large enough to hold all of the tools comfortably. When in doubt, go for a larger space than a smaller one, so that items aren't cramped and difficult to find

 

   Read the full article: Ten Items for Your Kid's Cookware Kit