Top recipes to make with children

Children love to cook. Getting them into the kitchen is about more than just helping out. By involving them from a young age, you can develop a love of food and cooking that could last a lifetime.

Talk through the stages of a recipe or pick one with plenty of pictures so they can see what they’ll be doing. And give your little helper a say when making decisions – ask them to choose between two recipes, for instance – as this is more likely to keep their interest for longer, and ensure they want to eat up every last scrap of the dish they just helped create.

Fancy fish fingers are fab for seven to nine-year-olds to cook, as they teach a range of skills: cracking eggs, cutting skills and carefully coating the fish in flour, yoghurt and breadcrumbs. Use the opportunity to talk about where food comes from, using some of the downloads from the resource hub such as the fish food chain.

Our Stripy berry dessert  is easy for four to six-year-olds to assemble, and gives them a chance to measure and layer fruit and yoghurt for their own meal. 

Expect a bit of mess and embrace it! It’s always best to have a sense of humour in the kitchen with children, but don’t forget to put on old clothes, tie your hair up, and maybe even put down newspaper or an oilcloth for younger children just starting out.

Bumpy beany dip with homemade tortilla chips is a great way for seven to nine-year-olds to learn about different countries and cultures, while practising mashing, lemon juicing and garlic pressing, and discovering how to make their own tortilla chips. 

Cooking with children is a fab opportunity for teaching basic nutrition and health. Dishes such as our Super lentil and vegetable soup are super-healthy and filling, plus it teaches nine to 11-year-olds how to chop vegetables safely. And you could always make a Really easy bread roll go with it! 

Opting for local and/or seasonal recipes makes it easy to teach children about where food comes from, and when and how it’s produced. Try Colourful vegetable couscous – it’s a delicious way to taste some of summer’s best produce, and ideal for nine to 11-year-olds to practise their cutting skills.

There are plenty more tips, cooking skills and recipes in the Resource Hub, all of which have been developed in collaboration with the British Nutrition Foundation. Get cooking!