Kids Parents Club

The extent to which your children can make a whole meal depends on their age. However, even the pre-schooler can be taught many of the skills required to make a simple dish. Careful supervision is obviously required if they are using anything sharp or using a hot cooker.

Making a pizza from scratch is something that all children can do and it may come as a surprise to them that pizzas don’t need to come from the freezer section of the supermarket. If you are in a hurry you can use a shop bought pizza base (or one of the packets of Schwartz mix that you can buy) but most kids will find it fun to make the base themselves.

Even if little ones need help measuring out the ingredients, all ages can have a go at the mixing and kneading. While the mixture is waiting to bind together, you can get them busy sorting out the topping. The variations are endless and much will depend on your child’s taste buds but all pizzas need to be spread first with tomato puree or sauce, with simple tomato sauce recipes available at the Schwartz Cooking Club. Favourites to add include ham, pineapple, olives, tuna, peppers, mushrooms and pepperoni. Top with grated cheese. Whether you let your child grate the cheese themselves depends on their manual dexterity. Grated knuckles can be painful!

For pudding, why not get your child to prepare a fruit salad? So long as you are happy for them to use a knife, it is one of the easiest and healthiest puds possible. A little lemon juice will stop the fruits from browning and don’t forget that if you are using bananas in your fruit salad, add them at the last minute.

When a camping holiday is suggested, most kids will be enthusiastic, but then comes the dawning realisation that camping means leaving the Xbox at home. How, you wonder, are you going to keep them happy for a week with no high tech entertainment?

Well, first of all make the most of your natural surroundings. Are you by the sea? If so, it is well worth investing in camping accessories such as wet suits for the kids. Unless you are lucky enough to hit a heat wave the sea in the UK can be pretty chilly, even in the summer. With wet suits on, kids can spend hours having fun without you worrying about them turning blue. A cheap crabbing line and bucket will also provide amusement. If you are near a river or lake, what about introducing your family to the joys of fishing? Again, there’s no need to go overboard (you’ll already have spent too much on camping equipment before leaving home!) as tackle can be bought cheaply and permits are usually available on a daily basis.

Make the most of being away from big cities by star gazing. You will be amazed at just how much you can see without the light pollution which most of us are used to. A portable telescope can make it even more rewarding. Shadow puppets are another good night-time activity. Just use a torch and the side of the tent. If you are allowed to build a campfire, it is great fun toasting marshmallows on it and telling ghost stories. Don’t make them too scary though or else you could be up half the night sorting out nightmares!

Scavenger hunts are easy to organise. Just give each child a list of items that are not too hard to find e.g. an acorn, a feather, something yellow.

For rainy days pack some board games, cards and craft items or see what the local area has in terms of leisure centres and museums.

Reading is one of the most important channels of knowledge available to our children. There is only a limited amount of knowledge that the parents can give their kids. Sooner or later they will have to start acquiring extra skills and knowledge from books.

Although it may seem that teaching children to read can be difficult, it is actually easier than one can imagine. The earlier you start introducing your children to reading books the better it will be in a long term. Many parents have different approaches when it comes to getting children to read but one tip should remain of a universal importance – books first and then computers.

If computer games, even though they are educational computer games, become the first thing a child encounters, it may leave a negative impact on their further skills of comprehension. Let me put it this way, you won’t be able to guard your children from computers forever – just make sure they’ve had some reading and real-life games and interaction under their “belts” before they’re allowed into the unreal worlds of internet and virtual games.

Teaching children to read is much easier if their parents can show a good example of loving books and reading regularly. Kids of certain age will try to mimic the adults and it is a huge responsibility – be seen reading often and read childrens books together with your kids.

When you’re trying to get your kids involved in cooking healthy meals that will serve them well for the future, there is one cuisine that stands out above all others as an excellent starting point: Italian. Pasta is such a fun dish to make with your kids, mainly because it can be messy but also because it’s so simple to make a dish your children will feel really proud of.

There are so many pasta recipes that will gradually introduce kids to the world of Italian cookery but one of the simplest is a basic tomato sauce to pour over spaghetti. This is a great one to follow if you’re also trying to introduce your family to the world of vegetarian recipes . To make this dish, you’ll need a small onion, a medium sized carrot, some garlic (unless your kids have an aversion to the taste of garlic), a small amount of olive oil, and a can of chopped tomatoes.

Ask your kids to chop the onion and carrot into small pieces, using a child-friendly knife at first if their knife skills aren’t fully developed just yet. It’s probably best for you to mince the garlic as we all know how easy it can be to slice into your finger when a small chunk of garlic slips out of your grasp! Make sure you place your frying pan on a fairly low heat so things don’t get out of control and encourage your child to saute the onion, carrot and garlic for around 10 minutes.

Once these ingredients are soft (allow your child to taste the sauce as it progresses as this will allow for a real understanding of the ingredients and also spark their interest in the whole process), add the can of tomatoes and season well. Cook the sauce on a low heat for 25 minutes and then add in the cooked spaghetti.

It can be a great idea to take your kids along with you to the supermarket to buy the ingredients, and make sure you stop to pause by the fresh herb section. Ask your kids to smell the herbs and pick one to go along with the sauce as an ingredient to add in at the last minute for some extra flavour. Basil does the trick perfectly here, but parsley also works well.

It is great idea to organize birthday party of your child in Zoo.
You can invite all his friends from kindergartent or school. There is enough place on the grass for games and competitions.