For most kids, the school year's end is an event to celebrate, and a good way to do that is to get them into the kitchen.
Having them help make dishes for an end-of-school party could be the start of cooking lessons that also keep their brains sharp while they are away from the classroom.
"When you bring kids into the kitchen it can build their basic skills including math by measuring, reading by looking at a recipe together," says Lisa Weidmaier, a mother of three and owner of the Hillsborough Young Chefs Academy, a kids cooking school with five New Jersey locations, including Springfield and Sparta. "You could teach geography by picking recipes that come from different parts of the world."
At Hillborough Young Chefs Academy, cooking lessons often are tied to books or current events, such as the Olympics. One of Weidmaier's summer programs will focus on the movie "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl." Students will try some of the Depression-era recipes from the "Kit's Cooking Studio," a related cookbook that's part of the American Girl series.
"We're going to talk about kitchens in the 1930's, because the movie is set in the 1930s. "We'll talk about what cooking was like and what recipes were popular then."
In the classroom and at home, the key to cooking with children is keeping them engaged, Weidmaier says. "For kids it needs to be something that's going to grab their attention. I have a son who is 9, and he loves Rachel Ray. He'll flip through the Rachel Ray cookbook because he likes her."
In Weidmaier's classes, where aspiring chefs can range from toddlers to high-schoolers, a key to success is being interested in what interests her students. "You have to know the pop culture stuff in addition to the cooking," she says. "If I can find out what Zack Efron (of 'High School Musical' fame) likes to eat and I can throw that into a class, then they are really going to stay connected to me."
Another tip: Have patience, have fun, and don't forget you're dealing with kids. "To a 3-year-old, making cookies might mean measuring the sugar and then they're gone," she says. "But to them, they've still made the cookies.
"It may be as simple as pulling up a chair and letting them stir something you've already put in a bowl. Part of the reason kids when they are little want to cook is that they want to be with you. They want to be doing whatever their mom is doing or whatever their dad is doing."
Here are Weidmaier's tips for staying safe around all the kitchen's hot surfaces and sharp edges.
* When cooking with smaller children, keep your eyes on them because they move really, really quickly.
* Keep your sharp knives up out of the way.
* Have your kids know where they can go or not go and what tools they are only allowed to use with your supervision. "My daughter who is 7 has one of the Rachel Ray knives, but she knows that she only uses that when she's cooking with me," she says. The knife also comes with a blade cover for storage and a protective glove. "You wear it on the hand you are holding the fruit or the vegetable with," she said. The glove is designed to work on the right or the left hand. Furi's Rachael Ray Tadpole knife kit is $29.99 at kitchenkapers.com or (800) 455-55674.
* "One of our rules in the Young Chef's kitchen is that the kids have to wear closed toe shoes because you never know what might fall."
* Look for cooking tools that have safety features, such as can openers that open without creating a sharp edge. At Young Chefs Academy, younger cooks do most of their cutting with safety scissors or a company-endorsed M-i Line pizza cutter. We tried out the patented plastic cutter, which has no sharp edges but still managed to cut through a thick carrot. It sells for $5 through Young Chefs Academy. Find locations at youngchefsacademy.com or 877-341-1041.
Is your kid a vege-phobic? Then check out The Great Big Vegetable Challenge at greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com. Your kids can help make a few of the kid-tested recipes on this blog started by a British mom, Charlotte Hume. She decided to cook through the alphabet to f