I started cooking this evening’s dinner while the kids were still at the park with the nanny. When they walked in, I was still in the kitchen. All three ran in yelling “can we help? can we help?” I absolutely love it when the kids want to participate in dinner preparation. On a related note, it kills me when the kids want to participate but the only remaining tasks involve hot oil, sizzling bacon, a 600 degree grill, or something similarly unsuitable for kids. So even though I was effectively finished with the preparation, I told the kids they could make some fruit salad. We frequently buy whatever fruit is in season (which is generally a lot here in California) and serve it at the end of dinner. Tonight’s twist: I told the kids they were going to do 100% of the work. I wasn’t going to get anything from the fridge, get a knife out of the knife block, get a cutting board out of the cabinet, nothing.
Once the kids got all of the ingredients, I directed them (without touching) to the appropriate knives. I gave them only some basic instructions. (When my 8-year-old got a little confused by the anatomy of a strawberry, I drew a diagram rather than showing her on an actual strawberry so I could stay true to my kids-do-all-the-work policy). 
The results were outstanding. As we all enjoyed the final product, I told the kids that we’d do this again soon and that the time after next that we make this, I won’t offer any more instructions than “please make some fruit salad.” We’ll see how that works out.
Julio's Delicatessen 
That’s a great idea of doing everything hands off. I’ll have to try that with my little one! Although, I keep having to convince her that cutting off all her fingers because she’s hell bent on wielding sharp knives isn’t a good career move on her part. I have to direct her towards the much more fun butter knives.