Review on Fun And Educational Kids Cooking Activity Kit - Klutz 10 X 1.19 X 10 Inches by Demetrio Lowe

I love to cook, and began when I was about four years old, putting jimmies and maraschino cherries on my mother's Christmas cookies. By the time I was eight, I could have made every recipe in this book, and quite a few more besides. I read this book with that in mind, remembering how I taught my daughter to cook when she was young. We went quite a bit slower with the dangerous stuff than my mom did with me.Anyway, this is a cute little book with some drawbacks. First is that many ofthe recipes list important ingredients as optional. For example, the book has a recipe for a cute plate of eggs on toast with a cat face on it in fruit. However, the recipe lists the fruit and toast as optional, when any kid who wants to make this recipe would be seriously upset if you told him he couldn't put the cat face on the eggs and toast, and would pitch a fit if you took the toast away, too.My other gripe is with the level of adult involvement required in these recipes. The book is listed as appropriate for children aged six and up, although the recipes have been dumbed down to the point that most kids over the age of six won't want to follow them. The adult supervision is called an "Adult Assistant," and it really means "Adult Who Does The Real Cooking While Kid Helps A Little Bit." Children aren't supposed to use the blender when making a smoothie (an adult should press the buttons), and in no recipe is a child allowed to cut anything that requires something sharper than a butter knife. This is fine for some six year old children, but most kids who are interested in cooking want to be the one that presses the buttons on the blender, and kids should be taught knife safety as part of learning to cook - (chopping food with fingers bent under, for example) When making the recipe for Guacamole, for example, the first step is cutting a tomato and a green onion into small pieces. A paring knife would do a good job at this, and is a good size for most kids, along with adult supervision.The book says the Adult Assistant must do this. The second step says an adult needs to cut an avocado in half, and for an adult to remove the avocado seed with a spoon. A six year old might need the avocado cut for her, but almost no kid needs help removing a pit from an avocado (with impeccibly clean fingers, not a spoon)If the "Adult Assistant" is willing to teach the child age appropriate kitchen skills, then the child won't have outgrown the book before he is old enough to read it. If the kid is allowed to make everything in the recipes (within reason, and based on an individual child's maturity), then this is a great little cookbook for the elementary school set.Oh yes, the book has a "Rainbow Whisk" in a plastic box attached to the back cover. It's okay, and the child cook would probably like it. He/She would probably be happier with his/her own apron and measuring cups and spoons instead.P.S.: I was eight years old when I first went "overnight camping" as a Girl Scout. We made our own breakfast stoves out of large tin cans, and hobo burners with corrugated cardboard and melted wax. Each girl cooked her own breakfast (with two leaders for thirty girls) on her stove, making the "Cowboy Eggs" listed in the book, along with two slices of bacon. We each used our official Girl Scout Jackknife to cut the bacon strips and the oranges we had on the side, lit matches to start our little hobo burners, and cooked without supervision. I remember burning my thumb a little bit, but it didn't lessen the fun and I learned not to touch a hot breakfast stove. We don't allow our children to take such chances today, but that's too bad. Most kids can handle more than you think they can. /off my soapbox