I’m pretty certain ALL children enjoy learning to cook. I think it’s one of those things that even if you don’t grow up to be wonderful at it or have a great desire to do it for fun anymore, when you’re little, baking cakes with your Mummy and the like is something really special. I’ve spoken to lots of my friends and we all remember doing it when we were small and now, with little ones of our own, we’re enjoying the experience from the other side of the fence.

Cooking with little ones isn’t just an enjoyable experience however as it educates them about food in general as well as the preparation and the eating. A great parent trick combines all of that and then gets the children eating things they wouldn’t usually try. If they are preparing the vegetables then their interest is sparked after having been a part of the making.

Cooking together, explaining what you’re doing, why and watching little ones learn in the kitchen is fabulous. It’s something that any child, of any ability can get involved with and as long as you cater to the age and capabilities of each little one then there’s no reason why they won’t enjoy the experience. Florence is only 5 but she thoroughly enjoys every aspect of cookery and is really rather creative when she’d in the kitchen. Her favourite programme at the moment is the Great British Bake Off and after staying up late on a Wednesday to watch she always wants to get baking and making herself. I remember being excited about cooking when I was her age and I had a Topsy and Tim chocolate cook book which I loved to make things from. We’ve been sent a cook book to review recently and although it’s not aimed at children like my own, I can only see really good things for any child in it.

Great Explanations:

The book is intended for children with special needs and is extremely detailed. It has step by step instructions for recipes along with a key code for the items you will need for each one. It not only gives you recipes but much more information besides and explains things in a really understandable way. It explains from the start to finish about food, where it comes from, how we refeigerate meat and why, how we would chop something and different food groups. It goes into so much detail including explaining about different foods from around the world and has vibrant and vivid pictures illustrated beautifully. Until recently I had told Florence that every meat she eats is chicken in a bid to get her to eat it. I realised at Camp Bestival, when she pointed to a pig being spit roasted and asked why they had shaped a chicken like a pig, that it was time to let the cat out of the bag about meat and this book is perfect for explaining not just that element but so much more besides.

The recipes are things which are believeable for a child to consider cooking. They are well thought out for a balance of healthy eating and scrumptious treats and just like throughout the book, the instructions are perfectly described.

The Cookbook For Children With special Needs By Deborah French

Thanks for sending me your lovely book Deborah and congratualtions on your new baby! I hope someone does some cooking for you for a while instead of the other way around!

Follow