Misono, a Japanese maker of fine cutlery used by many professional chefs, also offers this unique product for children. It is a knife with a rounded tip for safety and made for the hands of a child. Some may question the wisdom of giving a kid a knife at all, but it all depends upon knowing your kids and their motor skills, proper supervision, and determining whether a special knife like this would be worth it.

Foodie kids are getting younger and younger these days, and I could definitely see an kid 8 years old and up possibly using this knife. The cost at $42 is high, but not really that bad. The Misono UX10 chef’s knife that cooks clamor for sells for $210, so it could have been a lot worse.

With that said, there are many options for letting kids do some prep work without cutting those tiny digits. The Zyliss lettuce knife is one option. This plastic knife isn’t made for kids specifically, but it serves the purpose vert well. It also comes in a nice green color that might appeal to kids.

Pampered Chef also has their version of a child’s knife called the My Safe Cutter. It is a dull serrated knife with a blunt end specially suited for kids.

Curious Chef is another new entrant into the kid’s knife arena. They offer a nylon knife set (3 knives) that is very child friendly, and the company also sells a range of other cooking tools for kids. I visited their display at the Chicago Housewares Show, and I was quite impressed with their line of products.

Similarly, the Swiss maker, Kuhn Rikon, has a whole Kinderkitchen line for children, and I personally purchased this dog knife with teeth for my six-year-old. It has ears that act as a bolster to protect little hands, a flexible rubber tail, and the knife is just the right sharpness to be useful — not frustrating — when cutting.

With that said, you don’t really have to go out and buy a special knife at all if you want to introduce your kids to basic kitchen chopping. Sturdier disposable plastic knives and butter knives also work, and when they get old enough, a pairing knife (properly supervised) can be the next step up. But none of the above knives, with the exception of the Misono, will cost that much. The prices range from $7-11, and if your kids is a budding foodie, why limit them to a flimsy plastic disposable knife?

I love the clean styling of Beth Mueller’s ceramics. Each item is hand painted, glazed in white, and usually adorned with some sort of short message or word. If you visit her website, you will see a large selection of items she has to offer, to include vases, dishes, and vessels of all shape and size. She also makes paper and cloth products too.

Beth studied art in college, but also studied print making in Italy and apprenticed to a potter in Detroit. Wherever her training comes from though, the combination is brilliant; she produces strikingly simple yet elegant pieces.

I really like her children’s eating sets, such as the one shown, and her counter-top compost bin and asparagus platter.

Her pieces would make great gifts for almost any occasion and can be found at several sites online. Some places to check out are Uncommon Goods, Zanisa, and Artful Home, and you can even purchase her milk bottle vases through Amazon.

Royal VKB out of the Netherlands designs some very interesting home products, and this puzzle dinner tray for kids is pretty neat. I think children would get a kick out of putting the pieces together before a meal, and it sort of reminds me of the Melissa and Doug dinner play set that my daughter used to play with.

I do worry a bit that the sunken areas where the puzzle pieces go will collect food and be difficult to clean, but that is a small price to pay to let a kid have some fun.

Also, the plate needs to be rotated perfectly for the pieces to fit, so I could definitely see a kid putting the cup in the slot only to have it tip over and spill its contents. You can see what I mean by watching this video on YouTube.

You can purchase the Puzzle Dinner Tray on Amazon for $50.

This table manners set comes from Japan, and it won’t necessarily work for other cultures that don’t have that range of utensils, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea.

The set has icons to identify which item is used for what, and it will create some sort of visual model for setting the table when the little ones grow up. Plus kids will love it.

The item is available on Funfam if you can figure out how to buy it.

I ran across today a site called Bob’s Your Uncle and they offer this great book called Dinosaur Soup. Essentially, kids explain how to cook their favorite recipes with some pretty funny results. There are some sample pages on the site that you can browse to get an idea of what is on the inside. For instance, the kids instruct that you should cook your pasta sauce until is “splatters on the stove,” stir stuff with a hose, start off with a barrel full of strawberries, and one recipe for cupcakes calls for a cup of salt.

Bob’s Your Uncle also has a set of four melamine plates that have different kid recipes on them. I think I might try this with my own child. She would probably love to see her unique recipes when she gets older.