There's a lot to be said for getting the children involved with cooking as soon as reasonably possible. Of course, kitchens are potentially dangerous places (boiling water, sharp knives, etc.), so close supervision is required. Even so, learning early about food and cooking seems to me to be a good way to understand nutrition - and avoiding junk food!

Even very simple cooking is a good place to start. Here's a picture of Sebastian learning to cook spagetti on a holiday in Tuscany.

So, here are a few suggestions for fun things for kids to cook - and eat.

Kids love making pastry - getting their hands covered in flour and stuff mixing all of the ingredients together. They like the rolling-out and cutting even more. This recipe works well using a food processor to mix the pastry ingredients - so they can jump directly to the fun bit!

Put 4 ounces of plain flour, two ounces of butter (chopped into rough lumps) and three ounces of grated cheese into a food processor. Add a pinch of salt. Process intermittently, using a spatula to make sure all the ingredients are well-mixed, until the mixture forms a smooth thick paste.

Traditionally, pastry is rested before being rolled out. So, gather the mix into a rough ball with your hands (and a spatula for the odd corners!) and stick it in the fridge on a plate for ten minutes.

Time for the rolling pin! Rollout of the pastry on a flat surfce which has been sprinkled with flour. Make sure you turn the pastry over and keep flour between it and the surface. Once evenly flattened to about 3mm thick, use pastry cutters to make shapes. We have acquired a wide collection of cutters in amusing shapes over the years - but the "Batman" logo bat shape is by far the most popular - hence the name of this dish!

One the foods that Sebastian will almost always eat is pasta - sometimes just with grated cheese. (He particularly likes Parmesan!)

So here's a simple recipe for a tomato sauce which works well with spagetti or other forms of pasta. It's certainly a good substitute for those tins of spagetti in sauce. Appropriate parental supervision during the preparation is, of course, required.

First, the sharp knives part! Peel and slice a medium-sized onion. (With smaller children, I like to peel and halve the onion myself, so that it lies flat and stable on the chopping board.) You could chop a clove of garlic too, if your child likes garlic. (Sebastian loves garlic bread!)

Squeeze the juice from half a lemon. The kids seem to like the brute-force squeezing!

Now, the hot bit. I like to use a large and heavy saucepan on the stove, since it is hard to accidentally knock off or spill. Put in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onion (and garlic if used) for about five minutes, stiring all the time. This is an opportunity to show the kids the way that onions go soft and nearly transparent when they are cooked.

Wehn the onions are soft, add a tin of chopped tomatoes. (It's a bit messy for kids to chop tinned tomatoes themselves!). Also add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. This needs to be cooked very slowly, and stirred occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Put four ounces of plain flour in a food processor. Add half a teaspoon of salt and an egg. Then add a quarter of a pint of milk and process until a smooth paste is formed. Then add another quarter of a pint of milk, and process again, to make a smooth batter.

For kids, I like to use a small-ish and lightweight frying pan, so that they can easily handle the tossing and catching. Put a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the pan and wipe around with a piece of kitchen paper, then get the pan hot over the cooker.

Use a small ladle, and pour a little of the batter into the hot pan, tilting the pan to make sure that the base is completely covered by a thin coating. Cook until the batter has set completely, and only then (and not before) loosen the edges with a spatula.

Now, the toss! Make sure the pancake is completely loose in the pan, then flip over with a quick movement. (Stand away from the cooker and any hot surfaces while doing this.) Cook for a minute only on the other side, then slide out onto a plate.

What you eat with your pancakes is up to you, but some combination of lemon wedges, honey and chocolate sauce usually seems to fit the bill!