Here are a few of my go-to recipes for kids to cook (with a little help!) when you’re in need of fun toddler activities to increase their exposure to a variety of foods, keep them busy, AND make foods to share at the next meal or snack.
Recipes for Kids to Cook
I love to take advantage of the energy little kids have to do things themselves and do what they see us doing. That’s why it can be really fun to get the kids in the kitchen cooking.
With little kids, of course, “cooking” will look a lot different than it does for older kids, but there are plenty of activities and recipe steps they can master even as toddlers.
All of these ideas are meant to be done with an adult since little kids need help reading recipes and getting ready to make the food. I have ideas for baking with kids, too.
Contents hide
1 Recipes for Kids to Cook
2 Your toddler won’t eat? Help is here!
3 Tips for Cooking with Toddlers
4 Cooking with Kids: Recipes to Try
5 Hummus
6 Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
7 Easy Sugar Cookies
8 Cut-Out Cookies
9 Chocolate Sugar Cookies
10 Easy Cheese Crackers
11 Master Trail Mix Recipe
12 Rainbow Fruit Wands
13 Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Balls
14 Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
15 Animal Crackers
16 Snack Dinners
17 Greek Pita Pizzas
18 Pizza Rolls
19 Overnight Oats
20 Smoothies
21 Yogurt Parfait
22 Easy Banana Bread
23 Best Tips for Success
24 Related Posts
Your toddler won’t eat? Help is here!
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Tips for Cooking with Toddlers
I put together some of my best tips for cooking with toddlers—and perfect kitchen activities to start with—which you can find and see if they help.
Mainly, my best tips are to keep things simple to start in terms of the recipes you choose, isolate just one or two steps until you get the hang of having a little sidekick, and let them do as much of the job themselves so they can really get into it and have fun.
Oh and also: Try your best not to stress too much about the mess … or at least know it’s a normal part of the process.
And a learning tower can help get the kids to counter height, without worrying about a fall.
Cooking with Kids: Recipes to Try
These recipes are some of the recipes I turn to regularly to make with my kids. They can’t always make the entire recipe on their own, but that’s why I’m right there with them to help, explain, and assist as needed.
Hummus
My kids love using a potato masher for everything they can, and we love it to mash up chickpeas for hummus. (Just warm them first to make it a little easier.)
Homemade Hummus (Without Tahini)
With just 5 minutes and basic pantry ingredients, you can make the yummiest Homemade Hummus without tahini. This means that it's nut-free, so it's an option for school and allergy families, and it's just perfect for dunking crackers or spreading on bread.
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Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
The kids can help stir the batter and scoop out the batter. It’s easy and fun to snack on raisins as you go.
Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Try these Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies the next time you're looking for a classic cookie that's a little less sweet and still SO good. They're soft-baked, and so yummy.
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Easy Sugar Cookies
Rolling and stamping out dough is a classic way to cook with kids, and this recipe is egg-free (so no worries there!) and easy to work with. If you prefer, you can also make the cookies yourself and just let the kids decorate them.
Easy Sugar Cookies (Healthy and Delish!)
This makes a small batch of lightly sweet cookies. Double it to make more. If at any point the dough seems too sticky, pop it into the fridge for 5-10 minutes to firm up a bit. Or dust your parchment paper and cookie cutters with flour.
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Cut-Out Cookies
This is one of our favorite cookies to make for the holidays, though you can make them for any holiday you like— just change the cookie cutter accordingly.
Easy Christmas Cookies for Kids (Fun Cut-Outs!)
You can use any cookie cutters you like to make these Christmas Cookies for kids—the timing Is for 2-3 inch ones so scale up or down if yours are bigger or smaller. And feel free to make half of the dough at a time (and stash the other Into the fridge for a future day).
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Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Adding a little cocoa powder to this batter yields subtly flavored cookies that are still easy to make.
Easy Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Like a cross between an animal cracker and a sugar cookie, these less sweet cookies are easy to make with the kids. The amount of cookies you can make from one batch will depend on how large your cookie cutters are.
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Easy Cheese Crackers
This dough mixes up in the food processor, so the kids can push the button, and is really easy to roll out. It’s a fun activity to do if you want to share the crackers at snack time!
Easy Cheese Crackers Recipe
Mix up this easy-to-work-with cracker dough, then let the kids help roll and cut their way to the yummiest homemade cheese crackers recipe. These crackers have whole grains and a delightfully crisp texture. So good!
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Master Trail Mix Recipe
Technically, this isn’t cooking, but letting the kids assemble their own snack mix is a fun activity to do together.
Master Trail Mix Recipe
Mix and match ingredients to customize this mix for your kids.
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Rainbow Fruit Wands
Work together to wash and cut fruit, then push onto paper lollipop sticks to turn them into fruit wands for snack time.
Favorite Fruit Sticks
Call them fruit sticks, fruit wands, or fruit skewers, these are a perfect way to serve up a mix of fruit. You can make as few or as many as you like—adjust the quantity of fruit as needed.
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Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Balls
Think s’mores without the open fire for the flavor of these no-bake cookies!
Graham Crackers Peanut Butter Balls
These should chill for 30 minutes before serving to allow the oats to soften up a bit. (You can eat them immediately, they’ll just be a little chewy.)
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Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
With an easy batter that’s also free from eggs, these healthy cookies are fun to bake together as a make-ahead breakfast cookie or a healthy cookie for snack time.
Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
You can use peanut butter, almond butter, or Sunbutter in this recipe. Choose creamy unsweetened if possible.
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Animal Crackers
With just a few simple ingredients and a crazy-easy method, this Animal Crackers recipe is a favorite kids snack to make and share. You can make them big or mini in whichever shapes you prefer!
Easiest Animal Crackers Recipe
If you use larger cookie cutters, you may need to bake on the longer end of the baking time—and mini cookie cutters on the shorter end. This makes a relatively small batch, so double it if you want extras to last all week!
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Snack Dinners
Let the kids practice chopping veggies (find my best kids cooking tools here) to assemble their own snack plate dinner.
Easy Snack Dinner (to Share with the Kids!)
You can do a big family-style platter or individual ones for the kids depending on your preference. Add anything else that sounds appealing and know that the nutrition info will vary according to what you use.
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Greek Pita Pizzas
Let each kiddo spread hummus on a pita, then top with their desired toppings.
Easy Greek Pita Pizzas
Serve these assembled as shown, or with the toasted pita bread alongside the hummus and toppings depending on how your child will prefer it.
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Pizza Rolls
Have the kids help stretch out the dough and add the toppings to make these fun roll-ups.
Favorite Pizza Rolls (with Spinach and Cheese)
Be sure to grease your pan well and roll the dough up fairly tightly around the fillings for best results. (But it's okay if they don't look perfect when they go into the pan!)
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Overnight Oats
This recipe stirs up in a bowl, so even the youngest toddlers can help make this for breakfast.
Easy Overnight Oats with Applesauce
You can easily double (or triple!) the recipe to make more servings. It uses a 1 to 1 ratio of yogurt to applesauce so you can easily scale it up. Mix these up the night before you plan to serve them.
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Smoothies
A fun way to encourage kids to like smoothies and to know what goes in them is to get them involved in making them. Have the kids choose which color smoothie they want to make, then work together to add the ingredients and watch them disappear into the smoothie!
Favorite Healthy Toddler Smoothie (with Veggies!)
Learn to customize yummy smoothies for your toddler by starting with one simple recipe, then adjusting based on which fruit and veggies you'd like to use.
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Yogurt Parfait
Let the kids pick their fillings and toppings to make this a fun snacktivity.
Quick Yogurt Parfaits
Try serving these parfaits for a fun breakfast or snack. Adjust the amount as needed for your child.
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Easy Banana Bread
A potato masher makes quick work of mashing the bananas in this favorite quick bread.
Lower Sugar Banana Bread (SO Good!)
Be sure to use super ripe bananas—the more black and brown spots, the better the flavor and sweetness will be!—for the best results here. Adapted from The Salty Marshmallow
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Best Tips for Success
- Start small with single steps of a recipe or break things up as needed.
- Try to help the kids be comfortable at the counter or the kitchen table with a learning tower, safe toddler stool, or in their high chair.
- Allow extra time and expect a mess that will need to be cleaned up. Realistic expectations can help make the whole process a lot smoother.
- Try my tips for baking with kids, too.
Related Posts
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Activities
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The Best Salt Dough (for Ornaments and Crafting!)
Holiday
Favorite Christmas Cookies for Kids
Do you have a favorite recipe for kids to cook that you love? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
This post was first published November 2019.
