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Cooking with Kids – tips, tricks and recipe ideas

Posted on April 2, 2018 13 Comments

As his tantrum subsided into just plain old sobbing he managed to tell me he was hungry. That might go some way to explain his meltdown over what seemed like nothing, so I jumped at the chance to fill his belly and redirect him into something more calming.

“Do you want to make yourself some fruit salad? You can do the cutting and make a bowl just for you!”

“Ok” he snuffled…

I dried his tears and set everything up while he went to wash his hands and get an apron. I got out a knife, chopping board, and a bowl and cut the selected fruit into smaller pieces. He dragged over the step stool and began happily chopping fruit and popping it in the bowl. Smiling I wandered away to fold some washing (and snap a photo or two).

Cooking with kids - tips tricks and recipe ideas

Why Cook with Kids?

Cooking is almost like magic around here. Cooking seems to smooth tensions and wipe away tears. I try to remember that when I’m feel like saying no to a request to cook something.

Apart from all the developmental skills kids practice while cooking (maths, science, language, fine motor skills and more), it’s also lots of fun! The kids are learning lots of life skills too, and as your kids get older you can put all the skills they have learned to good use and have them cook dinner once a week. Taking responsibility for making food for themselves or others is so empowering, and that’s one less night you have to cook!

If you need more reasons to cook with your kids pop over and read my article with 16 Reasons to Cook With Kids.

Here’s a fun snack kids can make:

Tips for Cooking with Kids

Including your kids while cooking is going to be harder, and take more time than doing it without them, so make sure you acknowledge that before you say yes and you’ll avoid a lot of frustration for everyone!

And start with easy, quick, low mess recipes.

Fruit salad is perfect for beginners. It’s low mess, and each child can make their own bowl of fruit salad so their is no waiting, or sharing. There is no tricky measuring, or cooking, and you get to eat your creation straight away!

No-cook recipes are also great for kids, or even helping with some steps in making dinner, rather than attempting a special recipe.

Here are some more tips and tricks to make cooking with kids run smoothly:

  • A bowl with a handle to hold makes mixing things much easier for small hands.
  • A butter knife or serrated plastic knife (even a disposable one) will cut lots of things but won’t cut little fingers.
  • Washing hands and wearing an apron is important, so is tying up long hair so it doesn’t hang in the cake mix!
  • Kids are going to want to taste things along the way. If you don’t want fingers in the cake mix, be prepared with some spoons for testing.
  • Helping to cook dinner when you are in a hurry won’t end well, get them to help on a night when you are not so rushed.
  • For little people a good, stable, step to stand on so they are at the right height is essential
  • It’s going to be messy, accept that and prepare for it. Get the kids to help clean up, my kids love to wash dishes.

Easy recipes kids can cook

Recipes to Cook with Kids

From super simple to making dinner on their own, here are some recipes that the kids can cook with help, and eventually, on their own.

Pita Chips - an easy taste snack that the kid can cook!
Pita Chips
Chocolate Easter Nests - an easy recipe that kids can cook!
Chocolate Easter Nests
Cornflake Cookies - the perfect afternoon snack
Cornflake Cookies

No-bake Rocky Road Cookie Bars - an easy sweet treat the kids can make!
No-bake Rocky Road Cookie Bars
Home-made ice pops! My kids came up with four fun flavours to make their own ice pops. Set your kids a challenge to see what flavours they can come up with!
Homemade Ice Pops
Pancake Pockets - a fun and easy recipes the kids can make!
Pancake Pockets

Chocolate Mug Pudding- free printable visual recipe so kids can cook this themselves
Chocolate Mug Cake
jam scrolls
Jam Swirls
Easy kid-made chilli recipe - and 4 easy meal ideas using the chilli sauce.
Easy Kid-made Chilli

How to make a homemade muffin mix, and apple streusel muffins made from the mix
Homemade Muffin Mix
Chicken Mushroom and broccoli pasta
Chicken Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta
Easy Oat Cookies - not the best cookie ever, but easy and pretty darn yum!
Easy Oat Cookies

The easiest Easter cookies ever! No cooking, perfect for kids of all ages!
Easy Easter Cookies
Flavoured popcorn - three flavours and so easy to make the kids can do it themselves!
Flavoured Popcorn
Apple and berry Taquitos - a delicious and easy sweet treat that the kids can cook.
Apple and Berry Taquitos

Fruit Crunchies - an easy sweet snack the kids can cook. Great for lunch boxes too
Fruit Crunchies
Easy Beef and Veggie Stir Fry - a family friendly dinner you can have on the table in 15 minutes
Beef and veggie stir fry
Easy, no-cook, chocolate cookie balls in two flavours - choc mint and cherry ripe!
Easy No-cook chocolate cookie balls

Chocolate Chip Mug Cookie
Microwave Chocolate Chip Mug Cookie
Basic Vanilla Cake - easy enough for the kids to cook themselves, and totally delicious!
Basic Vanilla Cake
Quick and easy apple crumble - no rubbing in of butter required!
Easy Apple Crumble

Easy to make rice paper rolls (summer rolls) using left over roast chicken
Easy Rice Paper Rolls.
Fairy Fudge - a fun, rice krispie treat recipe the kids can make
Fairy Fudge
Face cookies - a quick and easy, no bake, treat the kids can make.
Easy Face Cookies.

Sticky, gooey, delicious monster rice bubble treats!
Monster Rice Bubble Treats.
Chocolate Chip Sprinkle bread.
Chocolate Chip Sprinkle Bread.
Raspberry and pineapple frozen fruit whip
Pineapple and Raspberry Frozen Fruit Whip

What do you like to cook with your kids??
Feel free to leave a link to a great kid friendly recipe in the comments.

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Filed Under: Activities for kids, Family Food Tagged With: cooking with kids, food

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. [email protected] says

    So many adults cook to make themselves feel better and so I can see how it can work on children too. Great post. Thanks for all the great recipes.

    Reply
  2. Kate - An Everyday Story says

    Yep cooking is always a winner here too. Doesn’t matter in the slightest what they are cooking, they are happy with anything and everything. And cooking is probably the ONLY activity which sees Sarah stay put and concentrate for more than 30 seconds!

    Lovely post :)

    Reply
  3. Debs says

    I think I’m really hungry and thirsty.. or, I am now after seeing those lovely recipes of yours. Great tips and I totally agree about choosing the right times to involve them. The last minute dinner rush isn’t a great time. haha :)

    Reply
  4. PlanningQueen says

    Having smaller sized utensils works for us. We have small size graters, whisks, tongs, mixing spoons, spatulas etc. It means they can maneuver them more easily.

    The older 3 make these on their own and the 7 & 4 year old only need a little bit of help. http://planningwithkids.com/2009/10/05/chocolate-balls-recipe-and-family-menu-plan/

    The older kids also cook eggs frequently and we are working on teaching the to cook homebaked oven fries.

    Reply
  5. katie says

    thanks for a lovely post, i adore cooking and so i think the enthusiasm is contagious over here… my 4 year old can now make himself french toast, and only needs a bit of a hand to whizz up a batch of pancakes. he also LOVES spooning mixture into tins or onto trays. miss 2 is always around to help stir, measure, pour, and test taste of course :)
    favourite recipes over here include…
    – nutella and banana swirls (similar to your jam swirls)
    – pancakes/pikelets
    – anzac biscuits
    – cupcakes/muffins (the veggie smugglers chocolate/bran/zucchini muffin recipe is a winner!)
    – any sort of cake… banana is a favourite :)
    – stir fry/ fried rice/ fruit salad – we enjoy chopping :)
    – avocado sandwiches – spreading is as much fun as chopping :)
    – baked cinnamon doughnuts… mmmm…
    – your cinnamon pizza!!!!!!!!!!! i am a little bit cinnamon obsessed :)
    – and i have just printed out your oat cookies recipe to crack out this afternoon – it is a cold and dreary day here so i think the house needs a bit of baked cinnamon goodness smell :) thanks!

    Reply
  6. Caroline says

    Miss 3 1/2 has just discovered her love of cooking thanks to doing cooking at daycare and has really started showing an interest when I cook.
    So far we’ve done cupcakes, rocky road, pancakes, pizza dough and chocolate slice.

    Reply
  7. rebecca at thisfineday says

    It’s hard to pick just one! I love having the kids with me in the kitchen. They can learn so much by pouring, measuring, mixing and the pride of seeing a job from beginning to end.

    Reply
  8. Alana says

    love those face biscuits!

    Reply
  9. Kate says

    My boys are too young to start helping with the cooking yet (only 18 months) but they are extremely interested so when I have the time and an extra set of hands I pop them up on the stools and show them what I’m doing and give them their own bowl and wooden spoon to play with, they love it!

    Reply
  10. Sika says

    Cooking with children is fun. I always enjoyed it. For children it’s like exploring a new place in world, and I got so many great inspiring ideas.

    Reply
  11. Danya Banya says

    I love cooking with JJ. I can’t wait for Bee to be old enough to help too. Thanks for the recipes!

    Reply
  12. Norma Rickman says

    So glad some mums are making teaching their kids to cook a priority! They’ll appreciate it when they get older. Eating out every night because you don’t know how to cook is just ridiculous! Bad for your health, and worse for your budget. It’s such a great way to teach math skills too.

    Reply
  13. Harlow's Harvest says

    Wonderful tips, and great list of recipes. It’s difficult to just choose one — they all look delicious and fun to cook with kids. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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