Cooking Class for Kids: 57 Delicious Recipes They'll Love to Prepare and Enjoy!

WoodsyGirl: I will confess that I don't have kids, but I desperately wanted a book like this when I ~was~ a kid. From that point of view, this is a good book, but there a couple of things I felt could be improved:

1) The first few chapters with all the rules and explanations... that would have been a no-go for my kid self. I would have skipped them all and gone straight to the recipes. (And no, don't expect parents to be in the room when the kid decides to give this a try!) If you want kids to learn the rules and terms, teach them within the recipe. You don't need big expansive definitions -- just a word or three in parentheses. Kids are expert at fitting new words into context as they go. And give safety reminders within the prep instructions as they go.

2) I saw little to no provisions for coping with mistakes the kids are sure to make. I think each recipe should have a section on what to do if things go sideways (sometimes literally with cooking, lol!). Oh, you're right in thinking I would have skipped that part too, but when something DID go wrong, you bet your boopie my nose would be right back in that book trying to figure out what I did wrong. THEN I'd see the part on how...

United States on Sep 17, 2023

Ellie Baumann: Great for young chefs !

Canada on Dec 08, 2022

Little Cupcake: This book was for our young niece and she was delighted with it!

United Kingdom on Jan 09, 2022

Mark Anderson: Okay

Canada on Nov 17, 2021

Amazon Customer: It's perfect for a young child, in my case my 10 year old granddaughter who loves to cook. The format is easy to use and the recipes look easy and interesting. Lots of other fun things to do in the book as well. Love the spiral binding as well.

Canada on Feb 15, 2021

Deb: EDITED: I reached out to the author on her blog about my concerns, she is responsive and holding herself accountable. In later revisions she hopes to do a better job of inclusivity. I appreciate that she realized that her earlier version was not diverse, and that she is making plans to fix that.

The author claims in her blog that she is committed to "diversity." Which in fact should be quite simple, as the world is already "diverse." One just has to LOOK around. However, there is only ONE black child in the entire book. I purchased this book for Christmas for my black and brown grandsons and will now be cutting out photos of black and brown children to paste over the plethora of white faces. We need to do better for our children, it isn't difficult. Also, I would have appreciated an opportunity for some references to the countries or cultures that some of the recipes were inspired by. In this day and age, there really is no excuse for this lack of vision on the part of the editors or the author. The year this was published (2015) when our President's daughters would have had a hard time finding a child in this book that represented them.

United States on Nov 20, 2020

natasha bathgate: Every recipe from here is easy for my 10 year old to follow & turns out great. I recommend Baking Class too.

Canada on Nov 03, 2020

corey wright: Excellent cookbook for kids!!! It’s probably geared more for older kids, but very fun for my almost 5 year old who loves to help me in the kitchen and is very independent.

Some require help with the oven or appliances but others don’t - there’s a rating at the top of each recipe to show basically how hard it is and if you need help from an adult. Lots of pictures, simple ingredients, talks about kitchen rules, safety, kitchen vocabulary with pictures (like beat, chop, crush, grill, sauté, simmer, etc.) even teaches how to fold a “fancy napkin.” It includes blank recipe cards, place cards, game cards, stickers and labels. Recipes include breakfast, lunch, dinner, veggies, snacks, desserts. The recipes even make suggestions for substitution of ingredients which I like to help more with creativity and teach kids to use what you have on hand.

I also like that it is spiral bound so it lays open flat on the counter. I know that’s a small thing but that was something I was looking for before ordering. It’s a very well rounded book. I would definitely recommend it!!!

United States on May 16, 2020

Anne from Baltimore: A few years ago, I searched for a kids' cookbook that I could love and that my kids could enjoy and follow easily. I was so surprised by the variety of cookbooks and the poorly written directions they included. In particular, I remember looking at Paula Deen's cookbook for children. The small print, light type, and colored background... I wanted a better cookbook for my kids! For me, cookbooks are inspiring (even if I almost never follow a recipe exactly)! I ended up finding one that I loved-- Kids Cook!, a Williamson Kids Can book that is now back in print. But, there are no photographs in the cookbook. My kids love color and they are not drawn to that cookbook. On the other hand, a new cookbook arrived at our doorstep last week and my kids hovered over it--drinking in the recipes, excited to cook!

That cookbook is Cooking Class by Deanna F. Cook. A few years ago, Storey published two cookbooks for kids about sewing that I like: Sewing School and Sewing School 2. With this cookbook for kids, Storey followed the same format and editing style--which I loved back then and love again with this new cookbook.

Cooking Class is divided into seven sections that cover the...

United States on Mar 30, 2015