When choosing recipes for cooking with kids you should try to have a sense of what tasks the children can perform and the kinds of foods they like. You should look for recipes that are fairly simple and do not require a great deal of preparation, at least not preparation in which the kids cannot be a part. Depending on the attitudes of the kids you are cooking with, you should consider if you want to use ingredients and recipes for foods they already like or try something new. You should also look for recipes for cooking with kids that involve a process the kids can be a part of, such as stacking or layering ingredients.
The best recipes for cooking with kids are typically those that require their participation. Cooking with kids often requires a good amount of patience, but kids who are not engaged can become bored and make the process even more difficult. This is why you should look for recipes that do not require a great deal of work in which the kids cannot take part. To make this easier, you should try to have a sense of what the kids can do and use this knowledge to select the best recipes for cooking with kids.
This means that if you have younger children, you should probably not choose recipes that require a great deal of chopping and cutting. If you do choose a recipe with a lots of preparation the kids cannot do, then you should get this work done before you have the kids in the kitchen. You should look for recipes that have steps the kids can actually be involved in while preparing the food.
Dishes such as pizza and lasagna are often great choices since the steps to make these foods can be done by kids. While this depends on the kids themselves, most kids within a wide age range can help layer the pasta, sauce, and cheese used in lasagna. Building a pizza is much the same.
It may be easier to get kids involved in cooking if they know they are going to create something they want to eat. Depending on the kids, though, you may be able to use the process to get the kids to try foods they have never eaten or might not otherwise try. Since the kids are likely going to want to taste what they made, you can find recipes that you might not otherwise try. If you are cooking with especially “picky” children, or children who are very sensitive to certain flavors, then you may want to be more careful and only select dishes with ingredients you know they already enjoy.