The recipe to make creative kids

Fostering creativity in children shouldn't be limited inside a classroom. One of the best places to nurture their imagination is right at home. Forget Popsicle sticks, craft paper, and glue for a moment; instead, arm them with aprons and feed their creativity right in the kitchen.

That's right, the kitchen! It is a great place to fire up a child’s sense of taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. Any activity that stimulates all the senses, or ‘sensory play’, is an important part of a child’s early brain development. It is through this that young ones can explore and learn about the environment they live in. Allow children to help out in food preparations. It is a good chance for them to learn. They will be able to feel the different textures of fruits, to smell the aroma of cooking vegetables, or to see how things change when cooked. Cooking encourages even the pickiest little eaters to be more adventurous about food, especially if it is a dish they gave a hand in cooking. Children can sharpen their motor skills through stirring or cutting with plastic knives, while older kids can practice their math and reading skills through measuring ingredients and following recipes. Cooking also creates strong emotional ties between children and their parents.

Cooking can be an outlet for kids to express themselves. This is a great way to build self-confidence. Kids can learn to follow recipes, or even invent their own signature dishes! Start them off with snacks like this cheesy sweet recipe that moms and kids can easily recreate:

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bread
• Cheez Whiz 220g
• 5 slices of ham

Procedure:

1) Spread thick Cheez Whiz on top of a slice of bread.
2) Lay out the ham on top of the cheese and spread more Cheez Whiz on top. The thicker the Cheez Whiz layer, the better!
3) Lay out another slice of ham on top of the cheese. Repeat until all 6 slices of bread are in place.
4) Cut out the sandwich into squares or triangles. Let the kids use whatever shape they want!
5) Lay the sandwich cutouts on top of one another. What can the kids build using the sandwich cutouts? Let their imagination do the talking.

With Cheez Whiz, sandwiches are just the start of the many dishes kids can reinvent using their own imagination. Every dollop of Cheez Whiz is thick and rich in cheesy flavor that goes perfectly with almost all dishes.

Cheez Whiz recently launched their campaign “Cheesevention” to get budding chefs and their parents started in their culinary cheesy creations.  “Cheesevention” kicked off last May 8, 2018 in a fun-filled program and activities. The event was highlighted by a cooking workshop that encouraged children to think out-of-the-box. During the event, kids were free to design their own sandwiches using Cheez Whiz and different toppers like popcorn and pretzels. With Chef DJ Santos teaching different recipes step-by-step, all the children were eager and excited to show off their creations. “Cheez Whiz is not only perfect for spreads, it’s also perfect for dishes,” shares Chef DJ, who himself is a father of two kids. “It has this nice thick consistency, and at the same time, the flavor! It has a very, very big flavor.”

Celebrity mom Bettina Carlos and her little chef Gummy were both hands-on in creating their cheesy inventions during the workshop. Bettina is firm believer that children should be taught how to cook even at a young age. “I encourage Gummy to taste different types of food to play in the kitchen so she can appreciate food better,” says Bettina. “At least her palette is exposed to different cuisines, different flavors. So when she’s older she will have a deeper appreciation of food.”

The event was a great venue for parents to spend quality time with their kids. Gerilyn Polon, a 30-year-old mom of two, agrees. Her sons, five-year-old Clyde and two-year-old Dave are no stranger to cooking. One of their favorite invented recipes is their Cheez Whiz pizza, which the three of them usually cook together. The boys love the thickness of Cheez Whiz and it being the perfect cheesy spread on top of the pizza dough. Their little family is just one of the many parents and kids bonding over the cooking stations during the event.

“It makes them creative if you let them experiment and give them enough freedom,” concludes Mark Sablan, who came with his 8-year-old daughter Sadako.  “It also makes them independent. It makes them feel that they can achieve things and that they can make things on their own.”

“It’s all about inspiring kids’ creativity,” says Cheez Whiz Brand Manager Rachelle Virata. “Because merienda time is bonding for mom and kids and with the delicious thickness of Cheez Whiz, you can do so many things with it: spread, dip, or ingredient in any recipe.”

Cheez Whiz is inviting parents and their children to come up with their own creative #cheeseventions for a chance to win P10,000 and be featured in the Cheez Whiz Facebook page! Visit cheeseventions.com for more details!