01 Dec Holiday Recipes Kids Can Help Make

There’s nothing more frustrating than building gingerbread houses. They always seem like a good idea in theory! And then you throw children into the mix, and gingerbread winds up crushed or stuck to the walls. Yet, holiday recipes become important family traditions. And it doesn’t have to be all about desserts! Preparing food together creates bonding opportunities and lifelong memories.

Here are a few ideas for edible activities with children that they’ll love making and love eating.

Non-Desserts (Sometimes Known as Food)

Typically when we think of our holidays cooking with children in the kitchen, we think of cookies. But lots of other dishes can be creative and fun!

• Evergreen tree pizzas provide pizzaz for the winter. They’re fun to cut out and to decorate! It’s just like making sugar cookies…except they’re not sweet.
• Teach your children how to make kosher potato latkes. Maybe supervise or take over the frying part, depending on their age and experience in the kitchen.
• Having trouble getting the kids to eat their veggies, let alone help in the kitchen? Try making mashed potato snowmen with them!
• These peanut butter and jelly dreidels aren’t traditional, but you can let the kids have a spin at the recipe.
• Eat healthy and fun with Grinch fruit kabobs! They’re adorable, sweet and three sizes too small, just like the Grinch’s cold heart, so make plenty of them.

Desserts

No holiday season is complete without making desserts, and children love eating them even more than making them.

• There’s always the classic sugar cookies in which children love to cut out and decorate. Many families pass on their own cherished recipes.
• These marshmallow dreidels will make you spin with delight.
• Peppermint crunch puppy chow is about to be your new seasonal favorite as if the regular Chex mix treat weren’t addictive enough. Children will love smashing the candy canes and shaking the seasoning. Another holiday version is the Hannukah puppy chow, speckled with blue.
• Don’t think you’re getting away with a clean kitchen and clean hands. It’s time for melted snowman s’mores!
• Airhead marshmallow pops: is it a food or a craft? It’s both!
• These 4-ingredient peppermint-chocolate cookies will melt in your mouth after the kids get done dropping candy cane Kisses on them, of course.

Drinks

When considering holiday recipes, don’t overlook drinks. Remember curling up by the fire with a hot mug of cocoa? Help make your children’s gray winter days merry and bright with some Frozen-inspired cocoa mixes! They make great gifts, too. You can also give cocoa a little flair with crumbled candy, cinnamon sprinkles, or anything else your heart desires.

For Chinese New Year, tea is the traditional beverage of choice. Here, a parenting blog describes which herbal teas make the most kid-friendly choices.

Whatever you celebrate this winter, you can count on good food to make it unforgettable! Choose holiday recipes that are fun and manageable, and that hold meaning for your family.