Does this sound reasonable?

[MissSeetonFan]

I have two little girls (6 and 4) who like to cook. Unfortunately, they try to do it every time my back is turned. Not quite, but sometimes it feels like it.

They will have out a bowl, water, melted butter, sugar, flour and anything else they can think of, including the very expensive almond/rice/soy milk for the one that has milk allergies (fortunately not severe allergies) and have random amounts mixed up before I can stop them.

It's like they want to reinvent cooking from the ground up. So you have waste, mess, and disobedience all tied up together. I cannot stand and supervise them, at least not right now. I am very pregnant and having issues. I'm not quite on bed rest but close enough. Nor can I always supervise the clean-up either. So it makes the kitchen extremely messy.

My thoughts are to teach them to do things but in moderation and scope that THEY can clean up (responsibility), that for Christmas, we'd go to the local thrift store, find some small canister-type containers, fill them with flour, sugar, etc, give them some bowls of their own and let them experiment.

Smaller sizes = smaller messes. They can only use what is in the canister and cannot refill them. We would replace things once a month or more often if they end up doing better at cleaning and following directions. Is this giving in to them? A way to control the mess? A way to teach them? Good idea? Bad idea?

I will be in a position to supervise them more after Christmas anyway. Plus, I already encourage them to help us cook when we do meals and desserts. (They just aren't satisfied with only that.)

[krbshappy71]

Just a thought, what about an Easy Bake oven that is a super privilege AFTER they clean up they can then bake their treats? You should be able to score one at a thrift shop or order one online if $ isn't an issue.

Measuring up and canister idea is cute but I'm not seeing too many kids excited about it.

You could let them decorate a tupperware-Ziplock-Glad container with stickers, write their nameson it, they could use those and hopefully its something you already have around your house?

Is there anyone in the family or friends circle that can take them off your hands and do some heavy-duty baking with them? Maybe they are bored and just looking to get into stuff since they know you are laid up a bit?
I had my mom that would take the girls and bake, cook, etc. and it really helped because I was so tired that even though I like to do those things I didn't like it to the extent that my girls did. Then they got to bring home some of the treats to show off what they did and they would kind of "get it out of their system" by getting to do it all day with her.

[Ramona]

I like the idea of their having special equipment for their baking. Hopefully, unbreakable mixing bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc can be purchased at the thrift store. They would be great Christmas presents!

I like krbshappy71's idea to put the sugar, flour etc in Tupperware.

[zakity]

What about some child-friendly cook books?

There are some peanut butter balls that are easy and yummy. They are no-bake and are just mix and eat. It seems like they are just peanut butter and powdered sugar mixed together.