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   I am always coming up with new, creative things to do with my little ones (3 years and 6 years). Playing with food is a wonderful, tactile medium to use with kids, not to mention that they usually eat their creations! I put my son in the kitchen with me when he was about 18 months old (mostly to keep him from destroying the living room as I prepared /cleaned up from dinner). It’s amazing how much they can help you in there, if you let them. He loved it! He still does at 6 years old and can help fix quite a few things now.

The Rules & Lessons 

  So, let’s start with some basic structure for kitchen play. Rule #1, think of everything as a lesson. The lessons that you are trying to teach will depend on the age of the child, of course. The younger the child the simpler the lesson will be. For instance:

My 3 year old:

My 6 year old:

• Learning how to properly fill measuring cups and level them off with a butter knife.
• Learning how to fill glass measuring cups for measuring liquids.
• Cutting up items like tortillas into smaller pieces with close, over the shoulder supervision, of course.
• Learning how to wash fruits and vegetables for consumption.
• Filling bowls for dinner.
• Making sure that there are just enough plates, cups, silverware for everyone for diner.
• Decorating items like cookies, cupcakes, pizza, etc..
• Coming up with new ideas for foods, that we then follow through with. (Even if it sounds like a somewhat yucky combination), then talking about the results. Remember, that experience comes from having mistakes too!
• Using cookie cutters
• Filling molds 

   Rule #2, have lots of hand towels, paper towels, and a box of diaper wipes or some washcloths for cleanup. Messes are going to happen, but after doing this a few times, you will slowly get over the adult need to not spill, drop or plop anything on the floors or counters. After you see just how much your kids actually learn in the kitchen, it really relaxes you a lot. Math, science, fine motor, feeding their curiosity about how things work, vocabulary – it really leaves no stone unturned for learning.

   Rule #3, try to let each child create their own masterpiece instead of one family masterpiece, if you can. It lessens the fighting over taking turns, who gets to do what, etc.. not to mention it encourages each child’s individuality and creative expression.

   Rule #4, and this can be a tough one to follow. Keep your mouth quiet about your kids actually eating their creations. Taste your creation, make some ooohs and aaahs about how good your food is, and about how you really like this or that. “Mmmm” from mom goes a long way for encouraging your picky / reluctant eaters. The more you try to force them (”Come on, just try it, just one bite, oh what’s the matter! You never want to try anything new!) the less chance you are going to have that they will eat it.

The Ideas

Flatbread pizzas: We bought a package a flatbread and couldn’t use them all up so I decided to use them to make our own mini pizzas. (This will also work with totrillas, split english muffins, french bread, and small pizza crusts). Plop on some storebought pizza sauce; use bagged, pre-mixed Italian blend of cheeses (for something different than straight up mozzerella); put out plates full of chopped up veggies of different colors and cut up in different ways; and let your kids create faces, lions, house shapes, dinosaurs, cars, Sponge Bob, Curious George, or whatever they like.

   We have used plates of onion strips, green pepper (strips and diced), sliced mushrooms, pepperoni (cut into whatever shape was needed to help finish a picture), baby spinach leaves (washed well), sliced olives, jarred pimentos, red bell peppers, orange bell peppers, purple / red cabbage,  bean sprouts, artichoke hearts (canned in water and cut-up), cheddar cheese (used to add color where needed), feta cheese (in moderation because of the saltiness), tomatoes (slices and diced), carrots (sliced into circles which are great for eyes), pineapple (chunks or rings), etc.. Think in terms of shapes and many various colors. Cut up the same item in different ways so as to give a variety of shapes to build with. Forget about taste, at least to some extent.

Rainbow cupcake frosting: Buy a box of food coloring and some white frosting (we like cream cheese frosting instead of just vanilla) and make some cupcakes. We’ve made lemon poppyseed cupcakes, spice cake cupcakes, yellow cake mix, devil’s food, and marbled cupcakes. Then we put the frosting into a large bowl and doled out small amounts at a time into a smaller bowl and colored just enough to frost 2 or 3 cupcakes. Start with a light color and then see how you can change it. Make it darker, totally change the color to something else by adding a few drops of a different food coloring, etc.. We ended up making a whole rainbow of cupcakes. This kitchen experiment was a huge hit!

Custom sugar cookies: Get some refridgerated sugar cookie dough or make your own. Then get out a butter knife and let your child cut out any shape they like. Remember, your child will learn alot from watching you so make sure that you make one of your own so they can get some ideas! Rocket ships, houses, cars, bears, our family (mom, dad, 2 kids), smiley faces, butterflies, bugs, lizzards, etc.. You are really looking for a strong outline instead of lots of details. When it cooks, tiny details typically will melt away, so keep the ideas kind of big. Add details when you’re done with color sugars (available in the cake isle of the grocery store or at a party /specialty cooking store)

Fruit shapes: Cut up some watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey dew into large wedges and help your child build ABCs, numbers, boats, etc.. on a plate. Use cherries, raisins, nuts, shredded coconut, mini marshmellows (I wouldn’t use those with kids under 4 or 5 years old though.), etc. to help complete the decorations. Canned whipped cream makes for a great flourish at the end that the kids get really excited about.

Valentine’s houses: I bought a gingerbread house kit at Walgreens around Christmas time, except that we were so busy that we didn’t get around to fixing it then. We made it around the first week in February for a Valentine’s house. There are a ton of shaped candies around then. We also hit a local candy store for some tasty items that would make for good design editions. We will definately repeat this art project next year. Make sure you take lots of pictures of this one!

Construct a fruit salad: Mix your chosen items with strawberry yogurt. (Blueberries will turn vanilla yogurt kind of purple, which is also fun.)

Shredded coconut, fresh pineapple, cut-up apple (with at least some skin left on), seedless grapes (red or green), raisins, cherries, chopped walnuts or almonds, dried cranberries, fresh cut pears, orange segments, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, starfruit, etc.. all make wonderful additions. Try to choose some things that your child doesn’t normally have. Also, make sure that at least 2 of these things are in their fresh (not canned / processed) state. My children were totally fascinated with fresh pineapple, cherries, kiwi, and starfruit!

   We make a big deal out of going to the store or local farmer’s market to get the items. Then come home, cut it in half and let them look inside. We talk about where it comes from , and for my 6 year old, I get out a world map and show him where that place is on the map. We talk about what the temperature is like there and the weather in general is like there. We also talk about why that particular item will not grow here (too wet, too dry, not enough cold / heat, etc..)

   In general, we try to think outside of the box where possible. We play with it all, come up with new ways to get the shapes / colors we want, etc.. It’s as much play for me as it is for them. It’s a fun, satisfying experience for all of us. Enjoy and don’t forget to post food art ideas that you have tried!