Fun recipes to bake with kids – Get the little ones involved in the kitchen from an early age with these simple baking recipes you can make together. Family baking is fun and creates wonderful memories for everyone. Grab a whisk, a lovely apron, and let’s get started!
I have been baking with kids for years, starting with my nieces, nephews, friends’ children, and now with my toddler, and despite the obvious mess in the kitchen, it’s one of the baking activities I cherish the most. The sparkles in their eyes is bliss! Baking with kids is a great way to spend quality time with your little ones. It helps them develop their fine motor skills, learn new words from a very young age, and even practice reading when they are a little bit older. Above all, baking with kids is a wonderful opportunity to bond, have a great family time, and enjoy a delicious treat.
Whether you are wondering what you should bake with kids for the holidays, a birthday party or just on a random weekend, these recipes will give you plenty of options to explore. Make sure kids always make these recipes under the supervision of an adult, and be ready to have a blast baking together.
Tips for baking with kids
- Expect everything will take longer, so let’s not try to do too much. Keep it fun and avoid frustration.
- It WILL get messy, there is no way around it. Let’s just embrace it; while baking with kids, the journey is more important than the result.
- Get all the ingredients and utensils out in advance.
- Pre-measure if needed, depending on the child’s age and the recipe you want them to participate in. If the recipe involves many steps, pre-measuring will pace the recipe and avoid boredom.
- If you are baking with more than one kid, assign roles.
- Let kids do things independently as much and as safely as possible.
- I highly recommend you read the recipe fully first.
- Most importantly: have fun!
Note that baking with kids implies that safety must be your number one priority all the way through. So make sure you keep sharp utensils at a distance and always monitor your children closely while baking.
Easy Cinnamon Rolls
Easy Cinnamon Rolls (Kanelbullar). This is my absolute favorite recipe to bake with kids! Knead the dough by yourself to spare some precious time, then let the kids spread out the filling and shape into rolls. So much fun! The recipe comes with a little tutorial to guide you through the steps, you can’t go wrong. You can also try the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls for a fall version, and either the Chocolate Sweet Rolls Christmas Tree or the S-shaped Swedish Saffron Buns for a fun holiday project.
Crepes
Easy French Crepes. I have never met someone who does not like crepes! Prepare the batter with the children, whisk, whisk, whisk… then let the batter rest for a while. If your kids are still young, cook and flip the crepes in front of them – it’s time to show off your flipping skills. Kids love it! Then, give the kids plenty of options to fill the crepes (it works with sweet and savory fillings) and have fun folding the crepes or rolling them. Happy time guaranteed. Go the extra mile with homemade spreads, such as this Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, this Foolproof Dulce De Leche, this Spiced Pumpkin Butter, or more spread recipes.
Yogurt Cake
Yogurt Cake. This is the very first recipe I’ve learned how to bake as a kid at school in France. This no-measure cake is the easiest recipe ever: grab an individual yogurt container or glass (that fills about ½ cup of liquid) and use it as a measure reference. Then proceed to the recipe with the kids, assigning rolls if needed. For one cake you need: x1 glass yogurt, x1 canola oil, x2 glasses sugar, x3 glasses all-purpose flour, 3 eggs, 1 Tablespoon baking powder. Then, you can twist it in a million ways, with almond flour and chocolate chips, with chocolate, make it a light marble yogurt cake, or simply throw some fruits (apple, berries, etc.) to the batter before baking. It works every single time, both in a round springform and in a loaf pan.
Banana Bread Muffins
Extra Fun Banana Bread Muffins. Muffins are always nice to bake with kids! With just a few simple ingredients and one single batter, you get 15 super yummy individual muffins your kids will devour in no time. You can also bring them to a birthday party and/or store the leftovers in an airtight container for a couple of days or freeze them in ziploc bags. Note that you can skip the walnuts in this recipe to make them allergen-free, or replace the chocolate chips with blueberries to make them healthier.
Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies. What to bake with kids? Cookies of course! But which ones? We want here an easy, no fuss recipe to get amazing cookies. You will find many cookies recipes on the site, that will please both kids and adults. But if you are to bake WITH kids, I would avoid brown butter and recipes that requires a long chill or that get a little bit more technical. My favorite easy recipes to make with kids are :
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is probably my #1 recommendation if you are to bake with little helpers that are eager to try the cookie dough right out from the bowl. Because it’s vegan, this cookie dough doesn’t involve raw eggs, and as such makes it easier to digest. When baked, they taste exactly like your regular chocolate chip cookies.
- Chocolate-Dipped Cookie Sticks. Really fun and delicious, these are a must do with kids. Watch them proudly dip their little cookie sticks in a glass of milk. Precious!
- Levain Bakery Cookies. These jumbo sized cookies filled with walnuts and chocolate chunk are to die for. Plus they do not require any chilling time! Make them half the size for little tummies, and lower the baking time by a couple of minutes if needed.
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles. A Christmas must try, but really they are great any time of the year. Skip the Cayenne pepper for the little ones to make these cookies more gentle.
- Cookie Shots. Although this cookie recipe actually requires some chilling time, I could not not share them. They’re so fun to bake with kids! Over the years, I’ve baked them many, many times with my nieces, and they keep asking me to bake them again every time I see them. If you don’t have the proper form to make them, use a muffin pan to make mini cookie shots, that works too. Then, fill them with milk, fruits or ice cream, and enjoy!
Sugar cookies
Sugar cookies. This super classic type of cookies are a holidays must! My recipe is simple and straight forward. You get a dough that is easy to manipulate, especially for little hands to cut several shapes in it. I love to use it for Christmas cookies but this recipes can be usedanytime. You can add some icing or just dust it with confectioner’s sugar, my favorite way!
Pumpkin Bread
Super Moist Pumpkin Bread.This sweet bread is easy, pretty straightforward but still fun to make because it uses spices, and there are different colors involved. Depending on the age of the kids, you can probably take a step back and just watch them proudly bake this pumpkin bread on (almost) their own. To add more fun you can bake this bread in Halloween or Thanksgiving themed pans (loaf pan or even muffin pan), it works like a charm!
Cookie Mix In A Jar
Homemade Cookie Mix.No matter the occasion, a homemade gift is always more meaningful. This cookie mix in a jar is a beautiful gift to make with the kids so they can proudly offer it to their loved ones. Another idea, is to prepare this elegant chocolate truffles that taste just like snickers, but in a healthier version!
Donuts
Easy Chocolate Frosted Donuts. Bring on the sprinkles and whip up these adorable donuts! These no yeast donuts are easier than you think. They are baked in a pan (not fried), colorful and great for a kid’s party!
S’mores
S’mores (outdoor + indoor version). Making s’mores is always an adventure and creates wonderful memories with kids. Follow my step-by-step instructions to make traditional s’mores on the campfire weather permitted, or go for an indoor version using the oven.
Tarte soleil
Churro-Style Tarte Soleil. Kids LOVE shaping tarte soleil. It’s easy, fun, and the result is just WoW! You need two circle of pastry on top of each other, and the filling spread out in between. Then all you have to do is create and twist the branches. My 16 year old niece became an expert at it and creates tarte soleil for any occasion (appetizer or dessert). Ready-to-use puff pastry works perfectly, but for other purposes you may want to check my puff pastry recipe.
Pancakes
Pancakes are a good candidate when baking with kids, because the ingredients are simple, and kids can mix them together themselves. Start with my Super Simple Pancake Recipe kids can make almost independently (except for the use of the griddle of course), then explore different variants, such as these Easy Fluffy Banana Pancakes or these Nutella-Stuffed Pancakes.
