Vacation can be a wonderful time for kids to spend the rest of their days in the comfort of their home, however, when boredom and curiosity strike there can be a number of great things that teamwork can do and handle.
Kids and parents can have a wonderful family time by making food through recipes that are easy to do and make, food is one of the most interesting things that can bring the family closer.
Whether it’s the weekend, a rainy day, a hot sunny day or on their vacation, cooking can be a fun way to spend your hours at home and not only that, it fills their tummies!
There are a number of fun recipes that the kids can make along with your supervision and attention, besides the fact that kids love to eat anything!
What are the benefits of kids cooking their own food?
Kids that cook or cooking food along with your kids can have numerous benefits from teaching you important life skills, knowing the importance of food and being healthy, to improving your kids’ psychological development.
Based on the studies, it is proven that cooking with kids or letting them cook by themselves with supervision could potentially increase the development and skill capacity, some of the benefits of letting them cook yummy recipes are:
- It trains the kids to be more focused and attentive.
- It improves the kids’ reading skills by letting them understand the recipes and procedures
- It improves their motor skills including motor strength and control
- It improves their mathematical thinking by letting them deal with various cooking measurements
From main dishes, appetizers, sweet snacks and some unique unusual by tasty dishes to consider, these recipes are some of the best healthy, delicious and kid-friendly recipes!
Switch from Normal Pancakes to tasty Banana Pancakes!
Switching the dairy-filled pancakes to banana pancakes may seem to be a great idea, especially if you’re vegan or being more aware of the cruelty-free movement against animals, a banana pancake is just an easy pancake dish that is prepared only with bananas and pancake batter, and here’s how to do it.
- Make sure that the bananas are of high quality, not that ripe or green
- Make sure that the ratio of every pancake is one banana and 2 eggs, making it 2:1
- Slice the bananas and let the kids crack the egg open and mash the bananas on their own mixing it with gluten-free flour or oats
- Heat the pan and let them put 2-3 tablespoons of butter, let it melt for a couple of seconds
- Let them put the mixture carefully in the pan and cook it for 1 minute on each side
- Present them the toppings that they can add! Toppings could be chocolate syrup, honey or maple syrup, add some healthy bunch by sprinkling ground nuts, chocolate chips, oats, strawberries of blueberries!
Banana pancakes are easy to make and they are done even by a toddler! Besides that the pancakes the kids have cooked are dairy-free and gluten-free, it is rich in essential B-vitamins, carbohydrates, protein, and potassium, healthy and tasty!
Get a daily toast of nutrients and yumminess from Kiddie Fruit-Toast!
Colorful fruit toast especially when done during breakfast can brighten up the kid’s day and make them more wonderful to the food they eat.
Fruit toasts are not just your regular toasts when added with colorful and nutritious fruits, it can make healthy living such an easy step for kids, here’s how to do it.
- Get the ingredients, multi-grain high-fiber brown bread, fruits, and fat cream cheese or whip cream of your choice
- Cut the bread into slices and let the kids toast the bread
- Let the kids spread the whipped cream or cream cheese into the toasted bread
- Slice the fruits into pieces, fruits that are a good pair to the toast can be avocados, mangos, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, kiwi fruit of orange and put it in a bowl
- Let them choose their own fruit toppings
Fruit toasts are easy to make and nutritious, something many parents could have asked for in their child’s diet.
With fruit toasts, they are getting their necessary vitamins along with the carbohydrates that are essential to supply the kid’s energy needs, way to go with a bite of fruit toast!
Go under the sun with a healthy fruit slush!
Fruit smoothies or slush are great appetizing drinks that kids can make easily without even any supervision needed.
Any kind of fruits can be mixed together to make a nutritious tasty drink, here are the instructions.
- Let the kids place the ice cubes, sliced fruits of their choices and sugar in the blender.
- Blend it into a thick slushy consistency
- Add toppings!
- Sip and Enjoy!
Create a homemade Pizza that everyone will enjoy!
Pizzas are undoubtedly one of the most favorite foods kids can have, instead of ordering them why not try to cook it with your kids, it’s tasty and delicious, here’s how.
- Make sure that the pizza you’re going to bake is healthy and free from additives and chemical seasonings, what’s the point of cooking it at home if its the same as the regular pizzas you buy outside.
- Make sure you have the following ingredients, 500 g of gluten-free bread flour, 2 tbsp of organic yeast, 2-3 tbsp of olive oil, 400 ml passata, garlic cloves, mozzarella cheese and preferably tomato sauce from your own tomatoes.
- Ask your kids to put the ingredients in the dough, carefully just like how a pizza would look like.
- Let them place it in the oven for an hour.
- Serve and Enjoy!
Pizzas can be easily made to your convenience, so experiment! Ask your kids what toppings they would want in their homemade pizza, you can add chicken meat or beef or anything you and your kids want!
Remember talking to your kids is the most essential part of cooking, it makes the pizza more satisfiable and at the same time, you are building a bond between you and your kids.
Have a treat with marshmallow chocolate-vanilla drip!
Marshmallows with flavorful dips can be a great snack especially when you’re bonding with the kids, try this mouthful marshmallow recipe and see how it goes.
- Have the ingredients, marshmallows of different sizes and colors, chocolate syrup of any syrup of your kid’s choice.
- Ask the kids to arrange the marshmallows in a plate, let the kids pour some Greek yogurt into the marshmallow along with their syrup of choice
- Enjoy well!
Marshmallows are tasty, no doubt, but with flavorful add ons, you can make their day a wonderful and precious delight!
Help them make dinner with a Chicken Broth
Chicken broth or any broth of your choice, in particular, is one of the most common staples around the globe, it’s tasty and savory and can be classified as a meal dinner.
Chicken broth is an easy way to make with kids, it can provide a savory taste when added during meals and has a lot of great health benefits to the family.
Chicken broth has been proven to be a rich source of minerals such as cobalamin, folate, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.
Here are the steps on how to do the chicken broth with your kids:
- Have the ingredients prepared by the kids, make sure you have chicken stock, bay leaves, black pepper, bouillon cube, salt, onion, basil, and carrots.
- Heat a substantial amounts of water in the stockpot, wait for 10 minutes
- Have the onions, carrots, garlic, and basil chopped, if your kids want to try it, let them but be sure to thoroughly guide them to avoid any injuries from the knife.
- Let your kids put the chicken meat or stock in the boiling water, guide them carefully with this as it is dangerous due to the boiling water, let the chicken stock simmer in the water to achieve its savory taste.
- After 5-10 minutes, let your kids add the vegetables and spices in the soup
- Extra: add a bouquet garni, it is a cheesecloth full of herbs that can add some taste to your chicken broth, let your kids put the herbs such as thyme, parsley, and garlic root to the cheesecloth and let them wrap it, its ok if the wrapped cheesecloth isn’t as good as what you’ve expected but it is necessary, the kids are learning!
- Let them put the bouquet garni in the soup
- Now with the finished product, you can either go and taste it or put it in a jar with cheesecloth so that you can put it to use for other recipes
- You can also add some density to it by adding eggs, noodles or tortillas
Make some noise for Apricot and Turkey Wraps!
These delightful wraps combined with unusual ingredients such as jam and cream cheese.
- Let the kids prepare the ingredients, cream cheese, turkey, arugula, and spinach
- Put all the cream cheese and ingredients into the small bowl and ask your kids to mix them thoroughly
- Prepare the tortillas and ask your kids to spread the mixture evenly with the tortillas
- Chop some spinach and ask them to put it into the tortillas
- Enjoy well!
Fruit and Veggies salad in a bar!
This is relatively easy to make and can even be done without parental supervision, fruits and vegetables have been widely acclaimed to be the best superfoods for centuries.
Colorful fruits and green vegetables, especially the dark leafy greens have been proven to provide a high amount of phytochemicals, vitamins, and antioxidants that prevent and inhibit bacterial and cancer growth in the body.
Compared to consuming a more animal fat diet, studies have shown that incorporating more vegetables and fruits or plant-based diets, in general, can prevent certain preventative diseases that most people have today.
Kids who eat a high amount of fruits and vegetables, in general, have better growth and development compared to malnourished or kids who consume high amounts of processed high-glycemic foods.
Having a colorful salad jar made by your kids not only promotes their health but also teaches them the importance of their own health, here are the steps in making a colorful salad jar.
- Prepare a huge amount of fruits and vegetables such as kiwifruit, oranges, apples, mangoes, avocados, watermelons, cantaloupes, kale, spinach, cabbage and other plant foods you can think of!
- Let the kids prepare and clean several mason jars of their use
- Help your kid by making sure that the fruits and vegetables in the salad are layered properly
- Let them choose!
- Add some toppings, use honey, maple syrup or yogurt
- Enjoy the sweet healthy delight!
Bake some Peanut butter brownies!
Peanut butter brownies are a better choice to make when making brownies, it is relatively cheap and easy to bake!
Here are some of the guidelines for creating delicious peanut butter brownies with your kids.
- Prepare the ingredients, peanut butter, eggs, gram flour, and sugar
- Heat the oven to at least 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Let the kids mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a smooth consistent texture
- Ask the kids to put the mixture into the pan
- Put it into the oven and heat it for at least 20-30 minutes
- Enjoy well!
Ask them to make your favorite Mac and Cheese!
Homemade mac and cheese may seem like a terrible ordeal to most people but when done right it can be a yummy treat to create with your kids!
- Prepare the ingredients, depending on your family size make sure to have 3-4 cups of grated cheddar cheese, 2 liters of full cream milk and 3 cups of elbow macaroni
- Tell the kids to put the full cream milk into the saucepan
- Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes
- Put the cheese and stir it well
- Eat right after, it is best for mac and cheese to be eaten hot
Bring on the popsicles!
Last but not the list on this article is the popsicles!
Popsicles can be a great way to slurp during the heat of the summer, it is an easy way and kids can do it on their own, in this article, we are specifically aimed to do a Honeydew mint popsicle and here’s how to do it.
- Before proceeding to the actual creation of popsicles make sure you have popsicle molds, blender, and sticks
- In a blender mix the crushed ice, 3 cups of mint and 4-5 cups of honeydew cantaloupe slices, let the children blend it in for 2 minutes
- After that, ask your kids to put the slush into the popsicle mold
- Refrigerate
- Best when served cold!
Final note
The recipes above are a good startup to make the children more committed to cooking their own meals and snacks, it helps them develop great life skills and improves their mental coordination.
Cooking can be complicated if you make it so, cooking with your children is an essential time of relaxation and commitment to bond, never worry about looking the best recipes kids can do online if you’re an expert at some dish and you want the kid to try it out let them!
In the final note, cooking is something that shouldn’t be forced, it should always come from your heart.
Read also:
- Cooking with Kids: is it a Worthwhile Activity?
- Sheet Pan Dessert Recipes Your Kids Will Love
- The Best Quick Meals, Snacks, and Treats for Kids
