Best Things To Cook With Your Kids
I love cooking with my kids. We like to take turns on who helps me cook so everyone gets to enjoy some one-on-one time with me. I love having little helpers even if all they do is sit on the stool in the kitchen and chat with me about their projects, friends, and just what interests them. It helps keep things interesting and lets me bond with my kids. There are of course some things that are better suited to kids helping cook. Here are a few of the best things to cook with kids.
Why should you cook with your kids?
Cooking with your child is a great bonding activity that can make your relationship more meaningful. Throughout human evolution, food has been a driving force. The saying that the kitchen is the heart of the home holds true. Families have gathered around the table with food for generations, making connections with one another. Cooking with your kids lets you harness this to its full potential.
Cooking can be a great educational experience for your child. You can teach your child so much in the kitchen, everything from how to read a recipe to how to measure and even the science behind chemical and physical reactions. Work with your child in the kitchen to make concepts like fractions more understandable. We find that cooking is a great way to make learning fun and exciting.
In the kitchen, your child can learn basic life skills. Cooking for yourself is a necessary skill for everyone. By cooking with your child, you can be sure that they will know their way around the kitchen when they are hungry. In their teen years when they are hungry more often than not, this will be helpful to you, as well as give you peace of mind when they are adults and living on their own.
Healthy foods to make with your kids
While it can be fun to cook treats and snacks with your kids they can greatly benefit from knowing how to make their favorite healthy foods.
Smoothies
Cooking with kids is fun when you make smoothies. While you add fruits, vegetables, and yogurt to your smoothies, this is a great time to talk to your child about healthy food choices. Simple and fun to enjoy with your child, this snack or breakfast is the perfect snack or breakfast. We like to add a couple of scoops of protein powder to our smoothies.
Homemade pizza
Have your kids help shape and top your homemade pizza with fun toppings after you whip up some pizza crust. To make the crust, we use the Kitchenaid mixer. This is the perfect way to save money while making great memories with your kids as you pile on all their favorite toppings, make funny faces, and turn your art into a meal. Pizza is a great way to get your kids to eat more vegetables as you pile on the toppings.
Homemade salsa
Making sals with the kids is a great way to let them work on their knife skills or to teach them how to use a food processor. All that chopping is a lot more fun when you have a partner in crime. Mine love helping me make salsa, mango salsa, and even pico de Gallo. They even help me in the garden to grow the vegetables for salsa.
Soup
Making soup with kids is a lot of fun. From helping to chop the vegetables to string the pot while you wash the dishes kids have a lot of great options for helping make soup. My kid’s favorite is to help me make chunky chicken noodle soup.
Fun treats to make with kids
Cooking any meal with your kids can be a lot of fun and having your children take turns joining you in the kitchen to cook dinner is a great way to get one on one time with them but you can really benefit from making fun and easy treats with your kids that can get them excited about cooking.
Cookies
Cookie baking is a fun activity you can do with your kids in the kitchen. Making homemade cookies with someone you love is a great memory for most of us. It may be baking Christmas cookies with your mom or biting into a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie on a cold winter day while visiting your grandma but you cannot deny how wonderful that memory is. While making cookies, you can talk with your kids about the science of baking and see what happens when you change a classic recipe.
Rice crispy treats
Rice crispies are a classic treat that kids love. It’s simple and easy to make them, as the entire process happens without an oven. Your child can easily help with every step of making rice crispy treats and you can even have them help cut out shapes with cookie cutters and decorate them after they have hardened.
Smore’s
A fun and simple batch of smores can be made on the grill or fire pit during the summer can be a great opportunity to make memories. I remember making smores with my dad once when I was a kid over the grill, and making them with friends at a party in high school. We make them every year over the fire pit with the kids.
Caramel corn
It is a lot of fun to make caramel popcorn, and it is even more fun to eat it. Simple ingredients like sugar and butter can be used to make caramel popcorn at home. Combine them with the popcorn. My oldest and I spent a long time on Christmas day chatting in the kitchen while we made a huge pot before watching Encanto.
