Ideas to channel your kids creativity

Kids are naturally artistic and creative. Being creative and playing with your food is one way a child can learn and explore food and cooking. It can be as easy as forming mashed potato hills and broccoli trees or arranging your lunch into a face or animal. Use some of these ideas to channel your kids creativity. They will see instant results and can eat their artistic work too.

For older chefs helping them be creative in cooking can be as simple as getting them involved in planning dinner and other meals each week. Give them a list of ingredients and ask what could we do with this? Or they can invent and create their own version of a recipe. Lasagna or any pasta dish can be easily changed and made into something new and unique.

The process of baking and putting food together for a meal is creative in itself, you can also help kids see the artistic nature of cooking with these recipes and ideas. For younger chefs, create bagel faces or fruit flowers.

Other recipes to try with younger or older chefs (they too may enjoy the creative nature of these recipes)

Banana dog
Banana(dog body)
pretzel sticks(for legs)
marshmallows(for eyes)
peanut halves (for ears)
licorice (for tail and whiskers)
Create your banana dog by spreading peanut butter over the top (to look like fur) and adding all the body parts.

Animal sandwich
Cut out animal shapes out of bread and decorate with fruits and vegetables. For example an owl cookie cutter, bread, peanut butter or other spread and banana slices can easily be transformed into a eatable owl. Add banana slices for feathers and banana cut in pieces for eyes. Use whatever shapes and fruits and vegetables you have available. This is where the creativity comes in.

Vegetable Platters
Transform a vegetable platter into a creation. You can make an animal, turkey, rabbit or be an artist and design an abstract design.

Enjoy and let the creativity in all of us flow!

Tags: banana slices, caption ideas, pasta dish, recipe lasagna, vegetable platters