Welcome to part five of our “Mini Chefs” series. As the school holidays are now in full flow, we have had lots more time to get busy in the kitchen. The poor weather has made sure of this!

It has to be one of my favourite things to do with the children as they are all really keen chefs and enjoy working together. There are always a range of things that they can do and the key always seems to be giving each of them a ‘special ‘ job to do. Even Batman can cook, now I bet you didn’t know that.

‘Testing’ is always a big part of the enjoyment they get from cooking. They love trying the things that they make.

They have been busy recently making their own pizzas. We used a dough mix and they all made their own dough. The sensory experience that comes from this is quite something. Different smells, a range of things to touch that all feel different, different colours and of course different tastes at the end.

They enjoyed making their dough and then rolling it out to form their pizza base. “More cheese” was what was generally being shouted as they decorated their pizzas.

They were really proud of their finished pizzas. We used a cute little Annabel Karmel pizza set during our baking. It is useful sometimes to have proper children’s tools and utensils, although sometimes they get a little frustrated because they are too safe! The pizza cutter for example doesn’t cut easily because it is plastic and obviously designed for children, so you might need to intervene.

As well as pizza, my mini chefs have been making cakes and we have used some super Annabel Karmel tools for this. These are fantastic, the spatulas are perfect for little hands to grip and it means they have so much more control when they are cooking and can be much more independent which means less frustration and a happy kitchen. They love having mini versions of my kitchen things but of course they think the ones they have are so much better because they are gorgeous bright colours – and to be honest, I have to agree.

The next thing on our list is making cake pops. This will be a first for us and something we have wanted to try for ages, so watch this space! We can’t wait to see how the Annabel Karmel range expands as so far we really like what we see.

What have you been cooking with the children lately? Have you seen Annabel’s new range?