6 Reasons to Cook with Kids

Learn life skills. This will be most important as kids grow older. If they can cook they won't have to rely on fast food and junk food for meals and snacks.

Boost their self-esteem. They are accomplishing a task, learning something important and contributing to the family.

Create connections. Take time to cook with your kids and they will have memories that they, in turn, can pass on to their families. Teach children, cleaning up is a part of cooking.

Kids will be more apt to eat what they make. Perhaps, it is the enthusiasm of creating something themselves, but they will be more likely to eat whatever they had a hand in making- and less likely to criticize what is being served for dinner, since they have been involved.

Cooking teaches children planning and decision making. Getting ready to prepare a recipe can help children learn patience and planning. First they need to look over the recipe and check to see that they have all of the ingredients, and get the ingredients pots, pans, bowls and utensils ready.

Kids learn real lessons in science, language, math and creativity. Whether you’re filling a pan with half the batter, breaking three eggs into a bowl, or measuring out 1/3 of a cup of oil, cooking offers many hands on learning opportunities. Cooking offers endless hands-on learning with counting, fractions, sorting, money, sequencing- what comes 1st, 2nd, 3rd , following directions, weighing & measuring, comparing amounts, shapes, colors, problem solving-what happens if something goes wrong, concept development- hard vs. soft, liquid vs. solid, raw vs. baked, improving reading and memory skills, new vocabulary, both spoken and written.


Best Pumpkin Bread

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

3 cups white sugar

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon ginger



Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 3 loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*This recipe makes plenty to share with a friend, family member or an entire classroom.