Cooking can be a fun self-isolation activity for kids. State College business owners have tips
As families self-isolate and observe stay-at-home orders, many are finding themselves in the kitchen more than usual — baking, cooking and maybe trying a new recipe or two (to varying results). Bringing kids into the kitchen can be an easy way to keep them entertained during self-isolation, while also providing them with an educational, enriching and memorable experience.
“Cooking in the kitchen brings people together over the love of food and to recreate memories,” said Susan McWhirter, kitchen owner at TasteBuds Kitchen State College. “Cooking together creates such a great opportunity for connection, engagement and inspiration. With this shift to finding fun things to do at home, many people are finding themselves back in the kitchen.”
There are many benefits to cooking with children, McWhirter said. When children help a family member cook a meal, they’re more prone to try a new or unfamiliar food that they helped prepare. Cooking can teach fine motor skills, math, focus, accountability, responsibility and creativity, while building self-confidence.
Taste Buds Kitchens locations closed across the country with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the brand has taken its work engaging families and friends through cooking online, launching #TBKathome, a home online cooking club. The online cooking club is free and suitable for families with small children. New cooking demo videos are released every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m., with recipes basic enough for even the youngest chefs and incorporating simple ingredients most families will already have in their pantries.
Heather Luse, executive pastry chef for the Penn State Bakery, also recommends families turn to online resources for cooking projects, especially when working with younger children.
“Check out recipes online — easy, fast ones that even use products that are partially prepared, like monkey bread with Pillsbury Grand Biscuits,” she said. “Try some recipes that get their hands dirty a little, as long as you don’t mind the mess. Try something that might end in an art project, like salt dough ornaments.”
Katie Dawes, owner of downtown State College specialty kitchen store Kitchen Kaboodle, also recommends some easy and hands-on activities for small children in the kitchen.
“Something that might be good for smaller kids, of course, are cookies. We have a ton of cookie cutters in different shapes and sizes, so that makes it fun,” she said.
For kids who are more impatient for their dessert to be ready, Dawes recommends cooking projects using microwave bundt pans.
“They can also take something like their favorite kind of yogurt and do some swirls in it with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips ... any kind of fruit ... and that’s something they can do all by themselves,” she said. “Just give them a couple of bowls with yogurts and berries and they can take a spoon and swirl it around and create their own yogurt mix.”
For older children, Dawes recommends adding some tools to your kitchen that might make cooking more fun and attractive, and that older children can use independently, such as spiralizers to turn vegetables into “pasta”, pizza stones for make-your-own pizzas and popcorn makers for popping and flavoring a homemade batch of popcorn. All these products and others are available via Kitchen Kaboodle, which is still taking orders via phone (237-8052) and email (katie@kitchenkaboodlepa.com), with curbside service and delivery available.
McWhirter also indicates that older children will likely want to be more independent and “adventurous” in the kitchen. She says Taste Buds Kitchen will often “challenge up” many of its basic recipes for older children, such as taking a grilled cheese rollup and turning it into a choose-your-own-topping grilled cheese.
Luse recommends additional creative options for older kids, like a family cake or cupcake decorating contest.
Running into ingredient shortages while self-isolating? Luse recommends cooking projects with minimal ingredients, such as no-knead pizza dough, homemade pasta, potato gnocchi or sugar cookies.
Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe
Provided by Heather Luse, Penn State Bakery
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups of water
Combine and knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand. If the dough is a little dry, add a little bit of water. If, while kneading on the table, on a floured surface, it’s a little sticky, add a bit more flour.
After the dough is smooth, roll out the dough to 1/8-1/4” thickness. Cut with desired shapes, poke, with a straw, a hole about a 1/2” from the top of the ornament and bake in a 200*F oven for 1-2 hours. You want to make sure the ornaments are completely dry. Timing will change depending on size and thickness of the shape.
Allow the ornaments to completely cool before decorating. Use acrylic paint to decorate and spray with clear glaze spray, (sprinkle with glitter if you’d like at this point) and allow to dry.