Food Projects to Do With the Kids This Summer

Pinnies, cookie cutters and wooden spoons at the ready...

Posted on

21 June 2021

Food Projects to do With the Kids This Summer

All Credits: PA

Making flapjacks chock-full of raisins with their favourite granny; stirring onions for their mum’s signature curry; fighting over who got to lick the last of the cake batter from the wooden spoon – ask almost any chef what their earliest food memory is, and chances are, they’ll tell you a story like this.

And it’s not just chefs. For many of us, our formative years involved patient grandparents sitting us on worktops to cut out cookies, or parents pegging tea towels to our tops as makeshift aprons before rolling pastry for jam tarts.

With the long summer ahead – and because there’s only so much time they can spend on Fortnite – here are a few culinary projects to stave off the kids’ boredom, and make some memories while you’re at it…

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bread.. that's how I use up overripe bananas... Yummy solution...no complaints.. #bananabread #homemade #yummy #easypeasy #baking #bananas #foodgram#comfortfood #warmoutoftheoven

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Easy sweet stuff

Flapjacks – baked buttery, syrupy oats can be knocked up in under 15 minutes, meaning little ones won’t even have time to lose interest.

Scones – making the dough is a 10 minute job, but the kids will find cutting them out utterly absorbing, especially if they get to smush all the leftover bits of dough into one giant, misshapen scone all for themselves at the end.

Banana bread – it’s almost impossible to mess up banana bread, no matter how inexact your kids are when it comes to measuring out the sugar and flour. We’d add a few spoonfuls of Nutella to the batter too.

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Summer appropriate goodies

Ice pops – all you need is a reusable plastic or silicone ice lolly mould, an array of different squashes and soft drinks to top them up with (lemonade ice pops are the best) and a few berries (raspberries and blueberries work well) to drop in too. Waiting for them to freeze will be the toughest part…

Frozen fruit skewers – chop up a load of fruit – think pineapple, watermelon, grapes, raspberries and satsuma segments – and thread them on wooden skewers, with everyone making different patterns as they go. You could even drizzle melted chocolate over too.

S’mores – chocolate, marshmallows and biscuits, what’s not to love? Even better if you make camp in the garden and heat them up over a real fire.

Ice cream sundaes – hand each child a bowl or sundae glass with a couple of scoops of ice cream, then set out bowls filled with different toppings. Smarties, chopped banana, sprinkles and chopped nuts are ideal. A can of squirty cream is also mandatory…

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Homemade make your own pizza is always a winner in our house, it’s my go to food and the kids love making their own We use lots of different bases such as pitta bread, toast, English muffins, wraps or sometimes we make our own bases, if I’m feeling brave! We usually keep the toppings quite simple with cheese and a few veggies which I let the kids choose. We use homemade tomato sauce made using passata, garlic, onions and oregano. Then lastly we always have sides such as sweet potato fries, cucumber, avocado, carrot and tomatoes We like to serve it all up on a serve yourself platter and everyone gets to pick what they like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #myhungrylittlehelpers #pizza #pizzatime #homemadepizza #pittapizza #toddlermeals #toddlerfoodideas #toddlerfood #blw #blwideas #babyledweaning #babyledfeeding #mummybloggeruk #mumblog #realfood #familyfoodtribe #familyfood #whatmykideats #whatmykidseat #kidsfood #kidsfoodideas #healthykidsfood #kidsfoodblogger #clickinmoms #mumswithcameras #momswithcameras #indianmommyblogger #mumlife #familyfriendlymeals #kidapprovedfood

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Start prepping them for leaving home and feeding themselves

Pitta pizzas – line everyone up with a pitta each, squirt a ketchup base onto each flatbread – then let the kids loose on a range of different toppings. Sweetcorn, pepper, mushrooms and frankfurter are all winners. Then load up on cheese and grill. Ta-dah!

Omelettes – arm your children with the knowlege that dinner is always a possibility, as long as you have two eggs and a mountain of cheese within reach. With a little careful supervision, you could have them whipping up an omelette from scratch in minutes. Oh the pride!

Noodles – if you think you’d trust your child to wield a knife, a noodle salad is a good testing ground. Add a spoonful of peanut butter to just-cooked noodles and let your youngster help chop up cucumber, carrots and sugar snap peas into thin batons to pop on top.