Quick and Fun Recipes for Cooking With Your Kids

Kids love to cook and it's a real learning experience for them. You can cut down on the mess by first laying newspapers out on the kitchen table. Let kids peel a banana and break them in half. Put a popsicle stick through the large end of the banana then roll in honey and granola for a hand-held treat. Core apples and place them on individual plates. Let kids fill them with choices of peanut butter, granola, cottage cheese, raisins and other selections.

Place a pear half on a plate and allow the child to cover it with granola, nuts, toppings, cottage cheese or other choices.

Place individual servings of ice cream in a bowl and allow kids to add their own toppings. Use squirt toppings for less mess than spoon-on toppings. Include topping choices such as nuts, whip cream, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, graham cracker crumbs, granola, crushed cookies and candies.

Let kids spread butter or margarine on a piece of bread then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Or let them make their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but buy squeeze jelly to save on the mess. The kids can then use cookie cutters to make sandwich shapes that are fun to eat.

Kids can also spread mayonnaise on bread then lay two different kinds of cheese slices on before topping with another bread slice. This cheese sandwich leaves behind no mess. Or let them make bologna and potato chip sandwiches - a favorite among kids.

Lay out a couple of different cereals, nuts, pretzels, cheese nips, and light corn syrup. Let them put their own dry goods in the bowl then pour a little syrup over it. They can stir it themselves for a tasty trail-mix snack.

Take the crust off bread slices and use thinly sliced meats to put on top of one slice. Spread with cream cheese and roll up. Kids can just hold these and eat them with no mess. Variations include laying a green onion in the center, placing shredded carrot inside, or sprinkling the cream cheese with raisins.