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Cooking with your children can be a wonderful way to spend time together, practice life skills and enjoy a final product. However, it's a good idea to establish some rules for the kitchen before you hand your little one an apron. Children are not aware of the potential dangers in the kitchen and they often want to do every step of the recipe without supervision. To prevent kitchen chaos, review the rules before starting any kind of kitchen project. Here are a few tips for making the most of cooking time together.

1. Review the recipe together. Discuss what parts of the recipe the child can do alone and what parts they will need close supervision or help with. Point out the parts of the recipe that you must do alone. This way, there are no surprises or arguments and kids learn about taking turns and also kitchen dangers.
2. Be physically ready--that is, tie back long hair, have hot pads ready, all the ingredients lined up on the counter, and all measuring utensils handy. Also, children love to swipe up small spills with paper towels or dishcloths.
3. Let children do most of the work. Perhaps many of you don't think your elementary age child can handle a small knife for chopping, but when they are taught the correct way to use the tool and are closely supervised, children should have no problems with chopping. Adjust the activity to the child's age, but give them a chance, too.
4. Talk about the different ingredients you are using. Taste the raw ingredients and let them feel the texture as well. Discuss how some of them work together to create the finished project, and even talk about what substitutions could be made (such as raisins instead of chocolate chips, etc.).
5. Clean up. Keep electrical appliances clean by wiping them down and washing detachable parts. Keep the motors away from water. Wipe up the workspace, and don't forget to check that you turned off the oven or stove top.

15 Minute Moment
Trace the bottom of your shoe onto a piece of drawing paper. Now, try to turn that shape into a drawing and add details.