#kidsinthekitchen Archives - Page 9 of 10

Prepping before Baking #KidsintheKitchen

April 26, 2013 by Melissa

This week for #KidsintheKitchen we worked on organization. Specifically I taught Shae how to get organized when it’s time for baking. Baking is so different than just cooking. Since there is some science involved with baking it’s important to make sure you have all of your ingredients, the right amounts and ready to add. Being unorganized while baking can cause catastrophic results. Skipping over ingredients or adding incorrect measurements can effect taste and texture.

Starting good kitchen habits early on can only with end results and clean up.
Teaching Skills in the Kitchen, #kidsinthekitchen
We took the easy way out and used a boxed cake mix since we’re pressed for time in the afternoons. I showed her how to look at the entire recipe, see each ingredient she needed and work on any prep work. I preheated the oven while she put papers in the muffin tins I don’t know why but she loves this step.
#kidsinthekitchen Adding Cupcake Liners
Next we measured out each ingredient, mixed up the batter and poured it into our tins. This particular batch was for Shaun’s lacrosse team but we snuck a couple for quality control.
#kidsinthekitchen, Mixing up Cake Batter
#kidsinthekitchen, Eating Cupcakes
Did you have fun in the kitchen this week? Did you try a new food or a new restaurant? Did your littlest ones use their snacks to count to 10? Share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

1. Link up only your kid friendly recipes, stories, pictures or cooking lessons here.
2. Link directly to a specific post, update or tweet not your homepage.
3. Please add a Kids in the Kitchen button or link on your site or blog post or share through social media so readers know you are participating.

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature, Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda atLookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

Starting a Garden with the Kids #kidsinthekitchen

April 19, 2013 by Melissa

Teaching you children where their food comes from might be one of the best lessons when striving for healthy and balanced eating. Fresh produce and meats, wholesome snacks and plenty of exercise is the best choice for everyone but real life is front of us. We do the best we can with a balance of these and convenience products.

This past weekend was the yard and garden overhaul. It wasn’t time to start planting yet but I didn’t want waste anymore precious time so I got the kids a mini greenhouse so we could start seedlings in the house. I know there are more cost efficient ways to do this with everyday items but this was simple and it let me start 72 plants at once.

The kids got peas, broccoli, green beans, fennel, carrots, tomatoes, spring onions, peppers and tomatoes into the kit. They dug out the holes, added 2-3 seeds each pod and watered in about 30 minutes. Not bad for that many seed packets.

Over the last couple of days I’ve noticed growth, noticeable growth. The sun hasn’t been out much this week so the greenhouse has stayed in the house under watchful eye.

Growing our own veggies isn’t new. We harvested so many tomatoes and peppers last year that we had to give a lot away to friends and family. It’s satisfying to see the hard work the kids put out digging and planting resulting in something delicious to eat.

Did you have fun in the kitchen this week? Did you try a new food or a new restaurant? Did your littlest ones use their snacks to count to 10? Share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

SnackTime, Ladybug Apple Snack #KidsintheKitchen

April 12, 2013 by Melissa

This week was snack time with #KidsintheKitchen. I’m all over pinterest and kid friendly food blogs like In the Kitchen with My Three Sons and see all of these awesome food pictures on a plate. They amaze me. I consider myself crafty and creative but this is so far beyond my expertise. I’m in awe at some of the ideas these moms come up with.

I wanted to make something with the kids but knew I needed to keep it simple and use things we have in the house. Check out our Ladybug Apple Treat.
It took just a few minutes from start to finish and the kids ate everything that was involved.

As you can see I pulled out all kids of candy ideas for the ladybug head. I wasn’t sure what was going to work best. We ended up using a apple (half for each ladybug), creamy peanut butter, chocolate chips (raisins would work), pretzel twists.

I cut the apple into quarters, as evenly as I could and gave the kids each a half, opened up a little to resemble wings. The rest was up to them. The peanut butter was the glue so everything used was edible. I think the snack was a good mix of healthy foods and sweet treats. This is definitely a snack we’d try again. Maybe next time we get more creative with the whole picture.

Did you have fun in the kitchen this week? Did you try a new food or a new restaurant? Did your littlest ones use their snacks to count to 10? Share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

Create a Meal #kidsinthekitchen

April 5, 2013 by Melissa

Even though I want my kids to enjoy each meal I serve I can’t cater to each individual tastebud. I know Shae doesn’t like potatoes so she gets more veggies, Shaun doesn’t like red peppers so I try to fish them out if large enough in a dish but give him extra carrots. Sabreena eats almost anything actually so I can’t complain too much about her.

We often let them choose new foods at the grocery store and let them choose a meal during the week. This all ends up working out so that we are eating meals that we all enjoy. This week Shae and I were working on a new way to talk about our favorite meals. I got this Melissa and Doug Make-A-Meal Sticker Pad. It lets kids put together their own DREAM meal on one page. Shae did a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pizza is a staple in this house. I knew that was going to end up on her plate. This one with the taco is my favorite though; there’s a good variety of veggies along with it.

Even if you don’t have this sticker pad your child can create their own meals from old magazines, computer printouts or paper and crayons. Giving kids the

Did your kids help with meal planning this week? Did your kids discover a new food and love it? Share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

#KidsintheKitchen Pretend Play Kitchen

March 29, 2013 by Melissa

Shae’s life revolves around a few things; watching Arthur on the iPad, annoying Sabreena and her play kitchen. She’s had a play kitchen since she was just over 1 year old.

The kitchen has changed but her obsession with pretend food and playing restaurant. The other day I replenished her kitchen with tons of new stuff and she’s been playing for hours at a time.

With her apron on and notepad in hand she walks around the house taking orders and hurries off to prepare your meal. She also doesn’t forget to bring the check. She likes to overcharge Uncle Mark.

Utilizing this play time has always been a great time to incorporate learning. She’s known her colors since she was a toddler and has been able to name some lesser known produce like coconuts, kiwi, avocado and kumquats. Even though her food is wooden and her knife isn’t sharp she’s always so careful to hold it correctly and not slam into her little fingers.

These lessons have only improved her imagination and knowledge over the years. She’s a pleasure to take into a restaurant because she know exactly how to order and what to expect.

Pretend Play is vital for learning problem solving, critical thinking, language skills and self expression. You don’t need the elaborate set up that we have to enhance your child’s imagination play. Recycled boxes from your own pantry, a coffee table and a few stuffed animals is all you need to create your own Play Restaurant.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

ChopChop and New Balance Giveaway #KidsintheKitchen

March 22, 2013 by Melissa

Follow my blog with BloglovinSince starting the #KidsintheKitchen series a few weeks ago I’ve stumbled across so many other sites and brands that encourage exactly what Paula, Sara and I try to explain each week. Getting your children involved with more activities and responsibilities in the kitchen only enhances their curiosity for new things.

ChopChop, The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families is a quarterly food magazine and website for kids aged 5-12 and their families. ChopChop’s mission is to inspire kids to cook real food with their families. Our vision is to reduce childhood obesity. ChopChop is published by ChopChopKids, Inc., a nonprofit corporation.

ChopChop Mag Black Bean Quesdillas

I’ve recently been introduced to ChopChop Mag by New Balance. New Balance is supporting the efforts of healthy eating and nutrition with their new Run the Rainbow Eat the Rainbow sweepstakes.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

Notes in the Lunchbox #kidsinthekitchen

March 14, 2013 by Melissa

You know that moment when you realize that your bad mood or snappy response might have hurt your child’s feelings. How about when the day is so chaotic you know that you didn’t get in enough cuddles or whisper enough I LOVE YOUs.

These days happen to all of us at one point. Being a parent takes a lot of juggling and sometimes we drop the ball. I’ve been trying to be more proactive of these moments and remind my kids how much I love them and think about them even when they aren’t around. A really simple way to bring a smile to their face is a lunchbox note.

Handwritten, personalized or stamped onto a sandwich it doesn’t matter. Here are some that I received from Hallmark that I’ve been tucking into the kid’s lunches once in a while.

So even if they weren’t in the kitchen with me when they saw these notes they knew they were always in my heart.
Did your kids help with meal planning this week? Did your kids discover a new food and love it? Share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

1. Link up only your kid friendly recipes, stories, pictures or cooking lessons here.(No Etsy stores or giveaways please).
2. Link directly to a specific post, update or tweet not your homepage.
3. Please add a Kids in the Kitchen button or link on your site or blog post or share through social media so readers know you are participating.

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

#KidsintheKitchen Using Colored Rice as Art

March 7, 2013 by Melissa

Last Sunday was a cooking day for me. I was in the mood for all kinds of new food but recipes that I wasn’t familiar with so I didn’t really want the kids helping out. Instead I gave Shae an entirely new project to try out, Using Colored Rice as Art. Colored Rice and Pasta is typically used as a sensory play mediums but for us it was a new way to play with color and texture and shapes. As you can see I added some wagon wheel and bowtie pasta shapes into the mix.

I added rice to a wonton soup container, added a few drops of food color and alcohol and let Shae shake. Within a hour of creating all the colors we needed the rice (and pasta) was dry.

I set Shae up with her individual bowls of rice and pasta, school glue, heavy finger paint paper and let her create whatever she wanted. The trick was to really add lots of glue so the rice and pasta didn’t move once it had dried.

I recommend putting your picture on a sturdy piece of cardboard so it can be transferred while drying. Trying to move a flimsy piece of paper covered in rice wasn’t fun.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

Kids Choosing the Meal #KidsintheKitchen

February 28, 2013 by Melissa

This week for #kidsinthekitchen I wanted to share with you how we have a pretty good system for happy family meal times.

Finding meal ideas that suit everyone’s palate all of the time is virtually impossible. Even our most loved meal, tacos, is looked down by one or two kids on when beans touch their plates. Meatloaf is another winner in our house but the youngest hates potatoes, she ends up skipping a side dish. The kids and husband love fish but it’s NOT my favorite. So what I try to do is please at least one person each time. That doesn’t mean the rest of the family starves but that could mean they just have to suck it up and deal with something on their plate. Getting the kids to look through cookbooks is one way to find new recipes and also please them at meal time. Switch ingredients or cooking methods if the recipe isn’t quite right. Don’t use cookbooks as rule books but more like guidelines.

Here Shaun and Shae are leafing through a couple kid friendly cookbooks I have in my arsenal. They haven’t told me yet what they want for dinner next week but I’m hoping it’s something new.

What did you and your kids do for dinner this week? Share photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen. I would love for you to join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together and enjoying it and learning something.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

Counting Marshmallows #KidsintheKitchen

February 21, 2013 by Melissa

This #KidsintheKitchen series started to showcase the ways we can educate our kids while having fun in the kitchen. This week I had the opportunity to switch gears and play in the kitchen with my niece. Ella is three years old, super smart and super sharp.

I brought her into the kitchen to help make a treat for her cousins but knew there wasn’t much she could do since I was at the stove. I gave her a scoop of marshmallows to count and group together instead. I asked for piles of 3. She knew how to count and knew when she messed up.

So while a 3 year old might not be the best helper for cooking they can be the best entertainment while slaving over a hot stove 🙂

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog, then share a photo you uploaded to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Share whatever you have, we want to see it.

Linky Rules

4. Click through and comment, pin, like, tweet or share with other participants. We love to share inspiration and ideas with each other, don’t link and run.
5. Follow the hosts of this feature,Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara and me, Melinda at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see all of the fun food themed ideas, excursions and photos you have to share.

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