Recipes to cook with 4yo

[becausewhhhhy]

My DD is 4 and loves helping me helping me in the kitchen... we mainly bake together or I get her to help with stirring batter or cutting veg (with a child safe cutter) but I'm looking for ways to get her more involved. We made lasagna this evening (using the slow cooker and bechemel done in the microwave so no hot stove) and she likes to help me make pizzas, but looking for more suggestions where she can get actively involved rather the odd task.

Meatballs? My DS loved mixing all the ingredients together & rolling them in his hands.
They were marble-size of course, so cooked very quickly.

This recipe has been adapted to cook with small children https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mini-toad-holes

My dd also enjoyed making burgers: mashing up the mince and all the flavourings and any add-ins like chopped apple or onion, and then shaping them into balls and squishing them down on the baking tray. Ditto for falafel and fishcakes.

Another hit was these cornflake nuggets - crushing up the cornflakes and coating the chicken. https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cornflake-chicken-nuggets.html

Loaded nachos is another good one - spreading out the tortilla crisps, adding all the toppings, grating cheese etc…

What sort of stove do you have? We have a range cooker (gas hobs) and ours have been helping to stir the pot standing on a a kitchen helper (mini step stool type thing) from 2yrs. They love it and add herbs and other seasonings whilst stirring the pot. They ask for more vegetables to be put in as they love the stirring and are more likely to eat it all after. We just cook whatever we would usually make.

Thanks all - I love the mini toad ideas, that's one of her favourites. As are meatballs, I've just shied away from letting her near anything too hot after she burnt herself (only slightly) while seeing if some cupcakes were cooked a few months ago. @Brelimwe have an induction hob so I'm probably being over cautious

Sounds like she's doing all she can at the moment!
As soon as money could.read and understand numbers they would bake cakes 'on their own'. I would oversee them, but essentially they would read the recipe, get the ingredients, weigh them, mix and then I woukd help put in the oven. So from about age 5.
I think i would be encouraging her to pick some recipes she likes, help with the shopping, then help prepare the food. You can then cook whilst she watches? Then get her to help serve up. Just being on the kitchen and around food is a brilliant way for her to learn. You could research where things come from, how they're made, try different flavours and so on to really encourage her.

When D'S was younger, we had The Gruffalo cookbook & the Room on the Broom one too. Lovely child friendly recipes & he loved choosing & then making them. He's 13 now & cooks independently but I still have the books as they represent so many happy memories - although making the-bird-on the-frog-on-the-cat-on-the-dog-in-the -bog cake for his birthday one year nearly broke me 😂

@LovelifeHathanksfor the recommendation... I had seem these but wasn't sure if they were any good. Like most 4yo DD loves those books so might be a good shout for Xmas.

My nieces love cooking with me. I get my 4 year old niece to just do anything I’m doing - if I’m doing meal prep, she helps. In a couple weeks we’re going to make bread and soup together. I’ll give her the veggies to chop up with a safe knife and she’ll help with shaping the bread rolls