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What Are the Different Types of Cooking Games for Kids?

Amanda R. Bell
Amanda R. Bell

There are several different ways to make cooking enjoyable for children of nearly any age by using cooking games for kids. Turning the kitchen into an imaginary restaurant can be entertaining for older children, while creating edible artwork can be fun for younger kids. Playing “I spy” while cooking together can be exciting and educational at the same time, while still getting dinner on the table relatively quickly.

Children are well known for their vast imagination and creativity. Turning the kitchen into an imaginary restaurant can be a fun way to incorporate cooking games for kids into dinner preparation. Children can set up a cooking line, similar to that found in many restaurants, with each child being responsible for different tasks. Depending on the maturity of each child, this can include washing or cutting vegetables, seasoning dishes, stirring or mixing ingredients, or preparing plates. All activities should be supervised by a responsible adult, however.

Cooking dinner as a family can help children learn, and can strengthen familial relationships.
Cooking dinner as a family can help children learn, and can strengthen familial relationships.

It can also be fun for kids to create and decorate a menu for the meal or set and dress up the table. When playing these types of cooking games for kids, it can be helpful to ensure extra time is planned if a meal needs to be eaten by a certain time. While cooking games for kids can make meal preparation enjoyable for the whole family, it can take a little longer than if only an adult is doing the prep work.

Providing children with healthy ingredients to create their own masterpieces can be an educational way to spend an afternoon.
Providing children with healthy ingredients to create their own masterpieces can be an educational way to spend an afternoon.

Cooking activities for kids can also help to encourage children to try new foods or eat healthy snacks. Making shapes out of pizza or bread dough and then baking it can be a good way to provide children with a creative outlet. Creating different edible art projects can also be fun and creative cooking games for kids. Providing children with several healthy ingredients such as whole grain bread, sliced fruits and vegetables, low fat cheese, and a variety of nuts with which to create their own personal masterpiece can be an educational way to spend a rainy afternoon. The foods can be stacked into a book or displayed on a plate to create a statue or picture; after the children complete their artwork, it can often be eaten as a snack.

Kids can help calculate the proportions for making pizza dough and then add their own toppings.
Kids can help calculate the proportions for making pizza dough and then add their own toppings.

Using different foods to teach children colors and shapes while cooking or baking can be one of the most educational cooking games for kids. Encouraging a child to find all of the red, green, or other colored foods can be fun and exciting, especially for preschool children. Finding all of the vegetables, fruits, or different shaped foods can also be fun and help children understand what is going to be served at dinnertime. Playing these types of “I spy” games with colors or shapes can also encourage fussy eaters to try new things and require little planning or extra cleanup by the parent or guardian.

Discussion Comments

croydon

@MrsPramm - My mother was never patient enough to let us help her in the kitchen. The only cooking game I can remember playing was when I was visiting a friend and her mother let us make up our own recipe for cookies to bring to school and share.

The cookies ended up being a kind of aqua-green color and after that I could kind of see my mother's point!

MrsPramm

@Fa5t3r - Being inclusive is great and is probably enough if you've only got a single child in the kitchen and you are making something simple where you can give them a lot of attention. But if you've got multiple children of a certain age, you had better make sure that they know the "rules" and are completely distracted by their task or they can get into trouble, or make trouble for you. There's where cooking games for kids can come in handy. If one of them is busy making flowers from cucumber slices and the other is printing a menu, they aren't pouring your spices into the wrong bowl or burning the soup.

Fa5t3r

When my nephew was maybe three or four years old I remember he was just delighted to be included in the cooking process. If we were making porridge, for example, he would be happy to throw in a little pinch of salt, or to give the mix a stir (we'd hold him up so he could reach the spoon properly).

Then he'd help to add milk to the bowls by pouring it from a little jug we'd fill for him. It was the best way to get him to eat his meals! And we'd be able to talk to him about making sure he washed his hands, because we were all doing it, and making sure he was careful around the stove, because it was hot enough to hurt us and so forth.

We didn't really need cooking games, per sec. Just including him was enough.

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    • Cooking dinner as a family can help children learn, and can strengthen familial relationships.
      By: Kablonk Micro
      Cooking dinner as a family can help children learn, and can strengthen familial relationships.
    • Providing children with healthy ingredients to create their own masterpieces can be an educational way to spend an afternoon.
      By: Jacek Chabraszewski
      Providing children with healthy ingredients to create their own masterpieces can be an educational way to spend an afternoon.
    • Kids can help calculate the proportions for making pizza dough and then add their own toppings.
      By: emde71
      Kids can help calculate the proportions for making pizza dough and then add their own toppings.