Indispensable Kitchen Gadgets for Any Mom 1. Tongs A simple pair of tongs can be used to serve spaghetti, remove a lost bay leaf from a stew, pluck boiling baby bottles and nipples from a pot or toss a salad. Get a pair that locks in the closed position for easiest storing. Young children will enjoy practicing their coordination in picking up marshmallows or pieces of fruit while you are preparing meals. Our recommendation: OXO Good Grips 12-Inch Stainless Steel Locking Tongs - The Good Grips line features durable, nonslip flexible handles on every product. 2. Meat Mallet A mallet is good for pounding chicken cutlets, crushing ice, transforming graham cracker cookies into crumbs, cracking nuts or whacking the claws of crabs. In those moments of chaos, it can also be used as a judge's mallet to bring order to a room. Our recommendation: Henckels Euro Meat Tenderizer - This mallet is easy-to-use and dishwasher safe. 3. Spatula Keep a heat proof spatula on hand for scraping the last bit of cake mix from the bottom of the bowl, stirring casseroles, folding egg whites or tossing an omelet. Have more than one on hand for an extra pair of helping hands who might later enjoy licking a little batter off. Our recommendation: Le Creuset Super Spatula - This flexible spatula will help you get the last off the batter out of the bowl and it is made of heat resistant silicone. 4. Y-Peeler You'll be amazed at how many foods can become beautiful with a Y-Peeler. Whether you are peeling large vegetables or fruit or shaving chocolate to sprinkle on a cake this is the tool for you. A stainless steel version can easily be set out with a block of cheese and some crackers for those spur-of-moment guests. Our recommendation: Hoffritz Stainless Steel Vegetable Peeler - Hoffritz's vegetable peeler offers a comfortable and weighty steel and plastic handle, as well as an 18/8 stainless-steel, double-sided blade ready to apply pressure to the vegetables and not your hand. The peeler is sharp and cuts easily through any fruit or vegetable skin we've come across. 5. Garlic Press A good garlic press not only makes crushing garlic easy but also can squeeze juice from a piece of fruit or an onion. For fun allow your child to push cookie dough through the press to make "hair" for decorating gingerbread cookies or animals on cupcakes. Our recommendation: WMF Profi Plus Stainless Steel Garlic Press - We like this stainless steel one better than the standard aluminium garlic press since it cleans up easily in the dishwasher and is sturdy. 6. Melon Baller How many times have you picked the seeds out of fruit for a child? When you aren't using this tool for making melon balls, try it for coring pears and apples. It makes the perfect size scooper for children to dish out cookie dough on to a cookie sheet too! And for fun how about making mini ice cream balls that can be piled up to build crazy desserts. Our recommendation: OXO Good Grips Melon Baller - Two sizes make this melon baller easy to use. 7. Kitchen Shears A sturdy pair of shears takes care of snipping, cutting and slicing everything from herbs to vegetables. There's not much you can't cut with a good pair of shears. Our recommendation: Henckels Twinshear Kitchen Shears - This live up to the Henckel reputation. No kitchen should be without. 8. Assortment of Cookie Cutters Metal cookies cutters can be used for making lots of delicious treats and family fun. Press a fun shape into a sandwich to bring life to a pbj or place one into a skillet and pour pancake batter inside to form a new kind of pancake. And when you are done using the cutters for cooking purposes, allow your child to trace their shapes for entertaining arts and craft projects. Also See: Family fun in the kitchen