One way to get kids in the kitchen and get them cooking is to make it fun. Here are 10 cool tools they'll love using while learning cooking basics—no dangerously sharp edges or moving parts, just good old-fashioned hard workers that every cook needs to have on hand.
A wooden citrus juicer makes quick work of lemons and limes and drain every last drop of the juice. Let kids use hand-held juicers to help make fresh beverages, dressings, marinades, pie fillings, curds or our Lemonade Granita, which they'll love eating as much as they'll love making it.
Teach kids the business end of a rolling pin by getting hands-on experience with roll-out cookies, biscuits, pie crusts or homemade pasta.
If you think boys won't want to learn to cook, put a meat mallet in their hands and let them whack away at a tough cut of meat like flank steak. A tip: spray the mallet with non-stick cooking spray first and teach kids the importance of washing it thoroughlt afterwards for food safety purposes.
One of the most necessary tools in the kitchen, a whisk whips everything from pie fillings and dips to omelets and frittatas—even dry ingredients for baked goods. Let kids use a whisk to whip together a puffy Dutch Baby.
A flour sifter is not only fun for a kid to to use, it's handy for sifting dry ingredients where a light texture matters (like a cake) and for evenly coating goodies with a dusting of cocoa, cinnamon or powdered sugar—like our Alfajores.
Let kids use biscuit cutters to help make cookies, scones, tiny tea sandwiches…and, oh yeah, biscuits.
A garlic press is a must-have for every kitchen—let kids use it to smush garlic, capers, canned peppers for adobo sauce, or anchovies for a Caesar Salad or our Green Goddess Dressing.
Egg Beaters are old-fashioned, fun and super handy to have around—sort of like a whisk on steroids. Kids will have a blast beating up fluffy omelets—plus it's a marvelous tool for making our light-as-air Double-Chocolate Mocha Meringues.
A mortar and pestle is as basic and useful a kitchen tool as they come, and kids will have so much fun smashing and smushing herbs, nuts, olives, garlic, cocoa beans and more for pestos, pistous, tapenades and aiolis.
You can't beat the taste of freshly ground nutmeg, and a nutmeg grater makes easy quick work of the task at hand. It's easy for kids to use and safe—you only grate in one direction and you only need a little at a time—but a little supervision with this one is a good idea.
Images by ThinkStock
