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10 Holiday Gifts for Kids Who Love to Cook
- Beth Conlon, PhD, RDN
- Nov 28, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2022
The From the Start Nutrition gift guide is curated by our Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. If you buy something through one of the links, we may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you. As always, we only choose items we genuinely love, use, have purchased ourselves, and recommend.
Below you’ll find a selection of my favorite holiday gifts for kids who love to cook! Cooking and baking teaches kids valuable, real life skills to kids in a hands-on, fun and creative way! From improving fine motor to math and basic life skills (like how to cook/bake for one's self and others), there are many benefits to encouraging and supporting your kids in the kitchen.
See my hand-picked 2022 guide on 10 Holiday Gifts for Kids Who Love to Cook below and be sure to follow me on social media for more ideas! Happy, healthy holidays to you and your family!
I absolutely love the Playful Chef line by Mindware. This Playful Chef Master Series Cooking Challenge Kit provides kid-safe kitchen tools (recommended for ages 8+) and creative challenges for kids to learn and explore new cooking skills. Kids learn valuable kitchen skills while building healthy eating habits. The kit includes kid-safe 22 kitchen tools, 1 apron, and 3 cooking challenge recipes. Have fun hosting your own Top Chef Junior in your home!
Another great gift from the Playful Chef line by Mindware. This Playful Chef Deluxe Baking Kit (recommended for ages 4+) contains real, creative baking activities for kids! The kit includes 16 kid-safe kitchen tools and measuring tools, and 5 yummy baking recipes. Your family will have fun while learning important skills like reading a recipe, measuring ingredients, basic math and conversions, fine motor (rolling and mixing), baking etiquette, and more! It's like The Great British Bake-Off (for kids) in a box!
The WeeSprout Little Chef Kids Cooking & Baking Set is a greater starter for younger kids, as it is specifically designed for little ones. Safe for all ages, tools are designed to protect tiny hands while they learn new skills like slicing and dicing. The kit includes 14 piece cooking set with real kitchen tools and a kids apron.
If your little one is going to be in the kitchen more often, it's important to keep them safe! I recommend step stools like this Little Partners® Explore 'N Store™ Learning Tower® that is designed to meet the safety needs of toddlers 2 years and up with its 4-position standing platform and full-surround safety bar. I love that it has a compact folding step that makes it easy to store, and it has an adjustable design that grows with your child.
I absolutely LOVE this cookbook, for so many reasons. First, you know that the recipes and activities are trustworthy, tried, and true coming from America's Test Kitchen (that's literally what they do!). Second, in my professional and personal experiences, turning cooking and baking into an "experiment" is the best way to kids excited to get in the kitchen, and there are soooo many benefits of kids getting hands-on in the kitchen, as I discussed in this blog post. When cooking and baking are an experiment, there is less pressure for the kids to try or eat ingredients or the food itself. When kids feel less pressured, they are actually more likely to tolerate a new food or a food they aren't sure about yet. It creates a fun and relaxing environment that improve children's comfort levels and enjoyment for being around food.
Calling all American Girl fans! I grew up playing with American Girl, so I absolutely adore their line of baking and cookbooks! This one has such adorable and delicious recipes that both little girls and big girls will appreciate and enjoy!
Cookie and sandwich cutters are a must-have to keep in the kitchen with kids! There are so many fun and creative activities that you can do using these simple pieces of equipment. And with appropriate adult supervision, they can be used with tiny hands, too. Some of my favorite moments are helping my little ones learn to press down with a cookie cutter. There are no words to describe the joy of seeing the glee on their face as they make a fun shape! From sandwiches to pancakes to cookies and more, you can do a lot with cookie and sandwich cutters. There are a lot of options on Amazon. I like this kit because it has shapes for everyone!
While the kitchen is a safe and appropriate place to get a little messy, sometimes you may want to keep their clothes a bit clean - or simply dress-up in an apron for fun! Urban Infant Little Helper has an adorable line of aprons for toddlers in all sorts of fun prints. They are equipped with a pocket and adjustable strap, so your little one can officially be your little sous chef!
Sometimes your child may simply want to play in the kitchen while you are cooking or baking. Or sometimes, we just simply don't have the time or the right recipe to make with our littles. That's where having a set of Play Kitchen Accessories like these ones by STEAM Life come in handy! Let your child's imagination run wild as the cook up their own foods. Play foods are also a great way to teach your child vocabulary (what color is that? what is this fruit called? etc.) and expose them to a variety of different ones in a safe way that isn't overwhelming to their senses.
Does this Play-Doh Kitchen bring back nostalgia for anyone else? There's a reason this set has been around since our childhood and likely before you were born! Play-Doh is another great way for kids to get exposure to variety of colors, shapes, and imaginative food play. This kitchen playset features a toy oven with food molds, utensils, and more! Your child will have a blast playing pretend chef (just don't let them actually eat it!).
Summary
I hope you enjoyed my list of 10 Holiday Gifts for Kids Who Love to Cook. I know my son will love them!
The best part of this holiday season is that it's not just about getting stuff — it's also about spending time with the people you love. So make sure you find some time to cook and bake together, and make some special memories!
Happy Holidays!
