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Guest post by Kia Robertson, mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit.
Looking for something fun to do with your kids? Try cooking together! Sure it can sometimes mean a little extra time and clean up when you have little “helpers” but it’s worth it. Of course this isn’t something that needs to happen for every meal, even if you just cook together once a week, it can create cherished memories and traditions that will last a lifetime!
Getting your kids involved in preparing meals is a fantastic way to develop healthy eating habits. Kids are far more likely to dig into a new dish if they helped prepare it!
There are lots of things even very young children can do in the kitchen. Toddlers can wash and rip lettuce, preschoolers can measure and stir, and older kids can find recipes and help create meals.
If you’re like me and not a natural in the kitchen there are SO many fantastic websites and cookbooks that can make cooking with your kids a fun and easy experience! These are just a few of our favorites:
This book takes a fun and creative twist on the conventional cookbook…it’s also a memory book! There is a place to put a picture of your little chef(s) and their creation after trying out a recipe! The back of the book also has a section called My Family Recipes where you write out all those fabulous dishes that have been passed down through your family! With this book cooking becomes a time to make memories!
Kids’ Fun and Healthy Cookbook
A great cookbook that puts the fun into eating and cooking healthy food! The step by step pictures make it easy for kids to follow the recipes! I like the emphasis on healthy ingredients and recipes! This is book is a great way to introduce healthy cooking to children in a wonderful way!
Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids
We really enjoy this cookbook! It covers all the basics of cooking and makes breaks things down into easy to follow and understand steps which is very helpful! The spiral-bound format is great and makes it easy to use!
There is a new cookbook that is launching in the Spring of 2011 that I am really excited about called
The Whole Family Cookbook by award-winning food educator Michelle Stern. This cookbook is all about giving families knowledge to create wholesome meals together! I can’t wait!!!
Something that my daughter is starting to work on is her very own cookbook! All she needed: some paper, pencils, crayons and her imagination! This is definitely going to be a keeper 
Bio: Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow Kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy eating habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day.
Melissa’s Note: Thank you, Kia – I love new cookbook ideas! And, writing a cookbook idea sounds great, I can’t wait to try it! Readers, I just ordered Kia’s kit — it’s getting rave reviews all over the Internet from moms with picky eaters! What a great metaphor for eating – all the colors of the rainbow. So enticing, right?
Want to win a Today I Ate a Rainbow Kit?
Comment below with either a favorite cookbook or favorite snack idea.
Contest runs through midnight EST March 20, 2011. Winner will be selected at random.
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Melissa Taylor is a mom and educator from Denver who is passionate about playful learning. Thanks for visiting the site!
16 Comments
Thanks for mentioning my upcoming book, Kia. You are so sweet.
ps. my kids LOVE the Today I Ate a Rainbow set that’s on our refrigerator door!
I like Pretend soup by Mollie Katzen, but these suggestions are great..thank you!
Since we r thinking spring we love to make smoothies and I sneak n kale and spinach…along with yummy strawberries frozen from last years crop:) thanks sooo much…this cookbook looks AWESOME!!!!
The Whole Family Cookbook is loaded with interesting recipes. The Today I Ate a Rainbow website has lots of great ideas!
[...] ***** Take a quick survey & enter to WIN a children’s book! The Best Cookbooks for Kids [...]
[...] The Best Kids’ Cookbooks [...]
Honest Pretzels is our favorite cookbook. We also like the original Moosewood cookbook. I was just thrilled to hear my non-fruit eating son say that “eating a rainbow” sounded like fun and he would be willing to eat some fruit to do it! Hooray!!!
“Deceptively Delicious” by Jessica Seinfeld has been one of my favs for ideas on ‘sneaking’ additional servings of healthy foods into what our picky kids are eating. Who’d have thought my kids would devour chick peas (pureed) in their chocolate chip cookies?! GREAT choices, GREAT ideas! Can’t wait to try “Today I Ate a Rainbow”!!
My trick with my two young girls is serve veggies and / or fruit first before meals !!
Works great and gets them in them before they fill up with the other foods.
Lori
[...] The Best Kids’ Cookbooks [...]
We have the Family Fun cookbook gthat we really enjoy.
fave snack is a banana caterpillar!
We like apple “fries”–cut up apples to look like french fries. It really works with my extremely picky 3 year old.
I loved cooking with my kids and now they love to cook on their own. We cook a few times a year with my preschool class. My kids loved to make teddy bear pancakes.
What a great idea for young ones!
We found out early on that our kids would eat almost anything that they could dip in something else. So we serve all kinds of veggies and breads with different types of dips – ketchup, hummus, ranch dressing, melted cheese… it has worked for all 3 of our kids!