by Kimberly Lee

Created on: March 26, 2008

Food should be fun for the whole family. Getting the family involved in the kitchen can help to promote healthier eating habits. Here are some tips on how to make cooking a fun family activity.

First you need to get the family involved in creating a menu for the week. If only one person is handling this, the food can get pretty boring. Everyone has different likes and dislikes, all should be taken into consideration. This is a very helpful way to expand the food horizons of young children or even the older picky eater.

After you have created the weekly menu, have the family help with the grocery list. What types of fruits and vegetables can be put into the dishes that were chosen for the week. Make it a fun job by having the children help go through coupons and help cut out the necessary ones for the menu that was created.

Shopping is always key when planning food. Make sure to make that a family fun event as well. If the children are old enough, give them each a section of the grocery list and make it a game. Race to see who gets all of their items first.

Next you need to create a plan for everyone to help. I like to pick one night for each family member to help during the week and another night for everyone to help together. Allowing nights for one at a time helpers is a neat way to spend some one on one time with your children. Children seem to be more willing to try new foods if they helped to create them. Having additional nights for everyone to help together ends up being somewhat chaotic but a great amount of fun as well.

Of course to follow would be getting everyone involved in cleaning up. Cleaning up can be quick and easy if everyone gets involved. It can also be a lot of fun. Don't be afraid to end up in a small water or soap fight, it wipes up easy and will help clean the rest of the kitchen.

Getting the entire family involved in cooking will help to create healthy eating habits that will carry over from childhood to adulthood. Involving the children in the kitchen will help to minimize how picky they are and eventually make eating out so much easier. Don't they say that the way to anyone's heart is through their stomach? Travel to the heart in fun.

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