KIDS CAN COOK Fun and yummy recipes for budding chefs by Esther Coombs

We’ve been spending more time in the kitchen lately and are really excited about Esther Coombs’ new book, Kids Can Cook. It’s a great book to introduce children to basic cooking and Esther has written and illustrated it in the same style as Plant, Sow, Make & Grow which has helped us learn about basic gardening.

Kids Can Cook is a wonderfully informative cookery book full of child friendly recipes which encompass learning across several curriculum areas. Its simple, child friendly layout makes it a perfect first cookbook.

At the beginning of the book is a list of safety instructions and a guide to what to do before you begin cooking. We are given a pictorial list of basic kitchen equipment that is need to make the recipes in the book.

We think it’s brilliant that basic instructions including chopping, using a grater, cracking an egg, kneading dough and testing a cake to see whether it is cooked are given, each with their own individual illustration.

A clear contents page lists all the recipes. The book is divided into three sections – Breakfasts, Snacks and Breads, Main Meals and Sauces followed by Sweet Treats.

Esther’s recipes are easy to follow and beautifully illustrated. Ingredients are listed at the top and accompanied by illustrations, this is fabulous for a child who is not yet a fluent reader, they can use the pictorial clues to help them find everything they need. The recipes are simple enough for an older child to follow independently with minimum intervention from an adult.

Breakfast, Snacks and Bread recipes include scrambled eggs on toast, muffins and mini frittatas. We’ve already tried fruit smoothies and pancakes and are inspired by the skewers suggestions, we’ve never thought of cooking halloumi on skewers before.

Main Meals and Sauces includes recipes for three different styles of pasta sauce, curry, sliders and fishcakes. Several of the recipes are vegetarian and others like pizza, baked potatoes and risotto have suggestions for how they can be made without meat.

Sweet Treats includes fruit lollies, vanilla fudge, apple pie and various cake and biscuit recipes. We made the delicious chocolate brownies and are planning to make and decorate gingerbread people next.

Kids Can Cook is truly inspiring and packed full of useful information and fascinating facts. Baking and cooking is a great activity to initiate learning in maths (counting, weighing and measuring), science (how food changes when it’s combined, heated or frozen) and literacy (following and writing instructions). And it’s always a treat to eat your own homemade food!

Age Range: 6 +

Author / Illustrator: Esther Coombs

Thank you to Button Books for sending us an ebook of Kids Can Cook. The ebook is available now, a print edition will be published in June.