Home > Cooking with Kids Recipes > The Best Recipes for Cooking with Toddlers

The Best Recipes for Cooking with Toddlers

Cooking and baking with toddlers can be great fun, but having tried toddler cookbooks and recipes for toddlers to bake that I’ve found on Pinterest. I can tell you that it can also be frustrating. Toddlers want to be independent little cooks but when a recipe just asks for them to stir or use a cookie cutter it’s not necessarily going to work. So over the years with our toddlers in tow here on Rainy Day Mum we’ve got our toddlers in the kitchen and tried and tested these easy toddler recipes to cook together and wanted to share them with you.

Collage of toddlers cooking at home with parents and grandparents.

What makes a good Recipe to Cook with Toddlers

Anything that you are going to cook with toddlers needs to be:

  • Very forgiving on the ingredients
  • Easy to follow instructions
  • Not take ages and ages to put together
  • FUN!

We’ve got even more tips that make it easier check out them out all our cooking with toddlers tips!

When you talk to anyone that likes to cook whether a mum in her kitchen or a chef they generally say something about the memories of being in the kitchen with their mothers, grandmothers and other family.

Those memories start early and if you can help your toddlers to be familiar with cooking and learning to cook earlier on as they get older you will find it easier and easier to cook with them.

I love this quote below and it sums up one of the reasons that despite the mess, the tearing my hair out by the roots and more! I’ve made time for cooking with my kids and part of our family goals.

“In the childhood memories of every good cook, there’s a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom.”
Barbara Costikyan (10/22/84 New York Magazine)

Don’t forget to make cooking fun! One of the ways we do it is that as we cook we sing along with some of our favourite Baking songs and rhymes!

If you have older children too then check out our recipes to cook with kids an A to Z there are lots of great recipes to try there.

Recipes to Bake with Toddlers

Of all of the things I love cooking with kids, bakes, cakes, cookies and treats are my favourite. So I have a sweet tooth I can’t help it and treats that you make yourself are always a little bit more healthy than those you buy so here goes some delicious sweet treats that you can actually cook with toddlers.

Rock Buns

Picture of rock buns themed for space with glitter dust and edible gold

One of the first things I ever made with the kids were space rock cakes – they were a favourite of mine and my mum had written down the recipe for me as they don’t need to be perfectly weighed, mixed exactly or look like anything in particular.

Pizza Pinwheels

Easy to cook with toddler recipe for Pizza Wheels. Perfect to make for a snack or serve with some vegetables for an easy finger food.

Mixing in Nursery Rhymes with some cooking and my sweet tooth will always be a favourite activity and our Sweet Wheels on the bus were a big hit and with only 2 ingredients they are sure to make it to your favourite recipe list for cooking with toddlers.

Jam Tarts

jam tarts a cooking with toddlers easy recipe on Rainy Day Mum

Jam tarts are a favourite sweet treat and they are easy to make – if you connect them again to a Nursery Rhyme you’ve got some singing, dancing and literacy that you’re combining with the cooking as well.

Butterfly Cakes

easy butterfly cakes a simple recipe to cook with toddlers

Cupcakes/fairy cakes are easy to make and the kids love them – how about simple cupcakes that the kids can decorate, or butterfly cakes with some homemade buttercream frosting.

Encourage your toddlers love of cooking with these ideas for toys that they can role-play cooking with.

Rainbow Cookies

Easy and delicious these Rainbow Cookies are simple to make and perfect for baking with kids. Use pastel colours for springtime or bright and vibrant candy for perfectly delicious rainbow cookies to share.

Cookies are another favourite – and rainbow crush cookies go down really well especially when you get to crushing the candies to make them.

Thumbprint Cookies

Thumb print cookies

Strawberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies are easy to make with toddlers as well – they are simple to mix up and measure as well as you can make them as bite size or a large as you want perfect for a small tea time treat for the toddlers in your life.

Rainbow Fruit Ice Lollies

homemade fruit ice lollies for kids

Whether the kids have a sore throat, it’s too hot outside or they just fancy something cool then ice pops are a favourite and they can be as complicated or as simple to make as you want – our simple ice pops are so easy it will take you longer to eat them than to make with the kids and as you know what goes into them you know they are going to be better on the teeth than ice pops from the store. Kids will have no end of fun mashing and smashing these 100 percent fruit rainbow ice pops. For those that prefer an ice-cream style ice pop then our Fat-Free Strawberry Ice-Cream Pops are easy to make and taste delicious.

toddler and preschooler cooking together making ice pops with 100% fruit

What equipment do you need to cook with toddlers?

Toddler using a knife to cut tomatoes

Cooking with toddlers doesn’t mean that you need a whole new set of kitchen equipment – instead, there are just a few essentials, a few that make things easier and some little extra’s that we recommend in the Rainy Day House – check out our Guide of Equipment that you REALLY need for Cooking with Kids.

Savoury Recipes to cook with toddlers

It’s not just the sweet things you can make with toddlers – savoury meals are good as well. I’ve tried to include ones that I did when the kids were toddlers or my friend’s toddlers have helped us make.

Bruschetta

Bruschetta’s that you make yourself are fun way to get the kids constructing their own meals – if you provide the selections, the bread and show them how you can have a quick and easy meal that they will love throwing together themselves.

Toddler cooking a pasta dish for a simple lunch meal for them to eat

Pasta Sauce

Another Italian favourite of ours is Squashed Tomato Pasta Sauce – a little bit messy but tastes delicious and your toddler will love the sensory cooking experience.

Lettuce Wraps

We love wraps and our simple lettuce wraps involve no cooking – although I can’t promise your toddler made ones you will be able to eat as a wrap as our attempts were more on the salad on a lettuce leaf but it’s all part of learning to cook and you can give them a hand to wrap them up.

Patacones

Some recipes may involve a little cooking – when my kids were toddlers I used to have one of them at a time on a stool beside me so that I could supervise them cooking our patacones recipes was always a favourite – they did love smashing the green bananas although I did do most of the frying part as that oil can be very hot.

Stone Soup

Stone soup a popular storybook is an ideal book to cook with and this crockpot stone soup recipe is perfect for toddlers as once everything is in they can step away from the heat source.

Baking Bread with Toddlers

Don’t shy away from bread with your toddler, not only is it surprisingly easy to make but the kneading involved has the added bonus of helping to develop those muscles for writing later on. Here’s our favourite easy bread recipes for toddlers.

Easy Bread

toddler baking bread using the easy bread recipe on Rainy Day Mum

Bread can be savoury or sweet and is ideal to make with kids – but you do need a really simple recipe to make sure that it will rise and taste nice – we have a simple bread dough that the only time it has failed us is when the heating went out as it was rising – it does need a little warmth to make it rise.

Hedgehog Rolls

4 hedgehog shaped bread rolls on a bread board cooked by a toddlers in autumn

That same recipe is used to make our hedgehog rolls – such a fun way of making themed bread with the toddlers and would be fantastic as you connect it with a season or reading a book.

Pizza Dough

toddler rolling out pizza dough

Of course, I can’t include bread without Pizza making and it’s so easy to do with toddlers as well. They will love making their own pizza and adding toppings is a great way to get them to try different food as well!

Irish Soda Bread

toddle making some dough for an irish soda bread she is putting her finger into the dough

The most forgiving bread that we’ve made with the kids when they were toddlers was Irish Soda Bread – it worked every time and no yeast either.

Seasonal Cooking with Toddlers

Christmas recipes to cook with toddlers - a picture of mum and kids cooking together wearing santa hats
Simple Halloween Recipes to cook with toddlers that are easy to do
Collage of easy Easter treats and snacks that you can cook with and for toddlers and preschoolers

Christmas Cooking with Toddlers

Christmas lends itself to cooking with the kids and we have included cooking as some of our advent activities with the kids since they were very little – our reindeer cupcakes were among some of the first recipes we included on Rainy Day Mum.

One of the traditional Christmas foods in the UK are mince pies – these are sweet pastry and dried fruit treats but as you know pastry can be difficult to make for adults – I have two very different solutions – the first one the store bought option with ready roll pastry and the second a no roll kid friendly pastry recipe to make flakey mince pies ideal for serving to Santa.

Gingerbread cookies are another Christmas essential and we have found the perfect snowflake cutter to make some gingerbread snowflakes.

Valentine Recipes to Cook with Toddlers

Our easy cupcake recipe can be adapted simply to create some valentines chocolate cupcakes which when made in a heart cupcake case are a perfect tea time treat for little ones to share with those that they love.

Easter Recipes To Bake with Toddlers

Easter cookies come in two different forms in our house – we make traditional Easter Cookies which I learnt to make in school and started to make together with the kids when they were toddlers and also our egg-free cookies which are perfect for finding some easter shaped cookie cutters and decorating as they wish.

Of course, no Easter recipe selection would be complete without a chocolate nest would it – and these are so easy to make with the kids just keep an eye on the temperature of the chocolate and those little fingers away from it when it’s too hot.

Halloween Recipes to Bake with Toddlers

After making these for the first time when T was only 9 months old and J was 2 and a tiny bit for our first Halloween party it was easy to see that they were toddler friendly – Witches Cauldron Cakes need a bit of support from us but using our fairy cake recipe and the kids favourite jello you have some really creepy cakes that everyone will enjoy.

Other Recipes that Toddlers Can Really Cook with you

As we’ve cooked together I’ve also tried other recipes and saved them to share and below are our favourite recipes to cook with your toddlers from other sites on the web.

Cheese Puffs – ever so simple to make from Childhood 101.

Coconut Ice – one of my favourite sweets to make as a child (maybe a British thing) from Steam Powered Family.

Number Cookies – mix a little learning and cooking together from Craftulate.

Easy Lemon Tarts – another simple recipe ideal for kids from Crafty Mama in Me.

Bird Shaped Bread – use our easy bread dough recipe and make some Bird Shaped Bread like Apple Green Cottage.

Easy Banana Bread – simple banana bread that toddlers can make from My Bored Toddler

Pictures of toddlers cooking together in the kitchen
Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

15 Comments

  1. Thanks for posting this! I love cooking so much with my little ones that I even started teaching a cooking class with my little ones friends too. I’ve been blogging about our adventures called “Little Hands that Cook with Books” since we incorperate a book to go along with what we’re creating.

  2. Wow- you’ve got quite the round up here! tanks for featuring my cookbook post and thanks for all the other great links! I love cooking with my kids; it’s a way that we really connect with each other.

  3. MeLissa King says:

    This is wonderful. Thank.uou for sharing. We love cooking with our.little guy.

  4. This is a great roundup of posts, it’s great that so many people are cooking with their little ones. Thanks for the mention & link to the competition too.
    x

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.