For as long as I can remember I have been in the kitchen cooking with my mum. When my sister came along, who is 9 years younger than I, she joined us sitting up on the bench in her bouncer. When our little duckling came along he naturally joined me in the kitchen cooking. First in the bouncer, then later sitting on the bench and now he cooks with me. So I thought I would share some tips on cooking with toddlers…..well what I have learnt so far!
1. Choose an easy recipe
Toddlers have short attention spans, make it easier for yourself. Choose a recipe with only a handful of ingredients and a few steps.
2. The Mess
Yes there will be flour everywhere, fingers in the butter, spilt milk, and mouths full of cookie dough – embrace the mess, its lots of fun.
3. Cooking = Playtime
Once hands are clean and apron is on, our little duckling sits on the bench and plays. Let them play and explore. He explores how different ingredients taste (only if he wants to, there is no pressure), how ingredients feel, he pours, sprinkles, rolls and kneads, scoops and stirs.
4. Give them space
I let him roll his own cookies. Yes this is hard for me as I like to be in control! So I give him a small amount of dough and I show him how to roll it into balls and press on the tray. Last time we cooked he rolled a few and then ate the majority of them. A few made the tray – they had big finger holes through them, all different shapes and sizes but who cares. He made them himself, while I rolled the rest out. While I am happy to eat his cookies with him, I wouldn’t serve them up to guests! I can’t be certain that they weren’t licked on the way to the tray!
5. No force
Sometimes I’ll set up to cook with him and he gets on the bench and either doesn’t want to cook or is just ‘hard work’ for me. In those cases I give him two options depending on how much cleaning I want to do afterwards.
1. Playdough and a whole heap of cookie cutters etc
2. Mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons and flour (or uncooked rice or pasta) and he pours and stirs and plays. Big mess but lots of fun and he enjoys pretending while I get stuck in cooking. 
Final words…have fun and don’t stress. Once the food is in the oven I sit our little duckling in front of a favourite DVD while I clean up the mess. Afterwards we get to sit down and enjoy what we have cooked. What a rewarding activity to do.
duckeggbluemamma 