Cooking utensils and kits that let children make sweets and other foods at home are drawing attention as a way for children to enjoy themselves when it's hard to play outside amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
There is also a recipe book that scientifically explains the processes of making sweets. These fun experiences can motivate children to be interested in real cooking.
A female company worker, 31, of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, made small bread-like sweets with her 3-year-old daughter at home by using a cooking kit she had bought at a supermarket.
All they had to do was to mix a special flour with water, pour it into a mold, and heat it up in the microwave.
"My daughter had so much fun making them," the woman said. "She was happy when they were done because they tasted and smelled almost the same as real sweets. I think she became interested in cooking."
The kit is one of the Popin' Cookin' series, which is aimed at children aged 3 and up. They are sold by Kracie Foods, Ltd., based in Tokyo, and do not require milk or eggs. The products use specialized flours to make snacks and light meals that look like such confections as cakes, doughnuts and taiyaki waffles, letting the user feel like they're a pastry chef or sweet shop operator.
There are 10 kits in the series, priced from 160 yen to 300 yen yen excluding tax.
"We hope children enjoy making sweets with our kits while developing their creativity," an employee of Kracie Foods said.
The Cooking Toy series is also popular.
According to the Tokyo-based manufacturer MegaHouse Corp., the series boomed about 10 years ago and has since been regularly sold at stores. New products in this series have sold well this year as children spend more time at home due to the coronavirus.
The series' Nobinobi Cheese Dog is aimed at letting children aged 8 and older make cheese dogs, which are popular among young people. The user sandwiches commercially available cheese and other ingredients between bread slices, shapes it appropriately and bakes in the oven.
The Angel Cheese Tea Maker, another item in the series, easily produces whipped cream cheese for placing on top of tea.
Both products have a suggested retail price of 2,500 yen excluding tax.
"Even if parents aren't very good at cooking or making sweets, their children can enjoy cooking with them with these products," a company employee said. "I hope such activities will serve as food education, too."
There are also recipe books to attract children to cooking.
"Fushigina Okashi Recipe: Science Sweets" (Mysterious confectionery recipes: The science of sweets) includes information about the wonders of sugar, which changes its shape when heated, and the process of making meringue by expanding it with the power of air. It was written by Sachika Ota and published by Milestaff this spring.
"This book shows making sweets is connected to science," says Yuko Yamashita, the book's editor. "I hope it will show children the joy of cooking, even if they weren't interested before."
Yamashita suggested that parents explain the contents to their children if they're too young to read it. The book is priced at 1,500 yen before tax.
Mayumi Suzuki, a specialist in children's cooking, said: "Children are motivated when someone eats the food they cooked and says, 'Yum!' If they think of variations on each recipe by themselves, it will help them develop their thinking abilities too. I hope doing these things will lead to an interest in real cooking."
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