5 Orange-Juicing Tips for Your Kid Sous Chef

But squeezing enough oranges for a glass of juice is a tedious task, especially if you don’t have an electric juicer.

If you’re a parent or caregiver, you have a secret weapon, though, that's better than any fancy juicer: an eager young sous chef. And with a bit of guidance, they’ll be a juicing pro in no time. Read on for our top tips for orange juice–loving kids, plus two ATK Kids recipes full of orangey goodness.

• Use juice oranges (sometimes labeled “Valencia oranges”). Big navel oranges actually have less juice in them; the same goes for small clementines.
• Cut the oranges in half. Ask your kid chef to think of an orange as the Earth, imagining the two knobby ends as the poles. When juicing an orange, cut it through the equator (the middle)—this exposes the flesh better so that you can squeeze out more juice.

• If you have a citrus juicer (a plastic jug with a reamer and a strainer to remove seeds), place one orange half on the reamer—the ridged part that squeezes the juice—and twist.
• If you’re doing this by hand, get ready to build some muscles. Place a small fine-mesh strainer over a big measuring cup (for easy pouring). Squeeze the orange halves right over the strainer, which will trap seeds and some of the pulp.
• Two oranges make about one glass of juice. Do the math. If you want enough juice for four people, you will need eight oranges.