Kids Cooking Games

If you've ever wanted to get your child interested in the kitchen, then cooking games are a great place to start. Not only will these games instill a love of cooking and baking, but you can also use the games to highlight important life skills like taking turns and being able to accept defeat. When you start on this kind of project, make sure that you keep the focus on the process of playing games and baking, rather than the end result.

Try these game ideas for cooking classes, kids cooking parties or just a fun in the kitchen family experience.

Kids Cooking Activities Teaching Materials

Make teaching easier with our activities and recipes compiled in theme sets and books with an easy to read format

Perfect for teaching!

~This post may contain affiliate links and I'll earn a small commission if you shop through them. There is no extra cost to you. This is how we help support our family and continue to bring you amazing content. To learn more see the affiliates disclosure here.~

Tasting Games

The first step in getting your child interested in working in the kitchen is to show them the kind of flavors that are available for them to use. Kids can cook games can help them identify different types of foods. You could play:

• Blindfold taste testing. Make up some different dishes, including some that you know that your child enjoys. Blindfold your child and feed them a spoon of each dish. You can get them to guess the ingredients, or merely state their preference. This will help build trust between you, as well as introducing them to new foods. For extra fun, allow them to blindfold and feed you. See also our food science experiment taste testing game.
  


• Memory. Show your child a selection of foods and then ask them to close their eyes. Feed them one piece of food and ask them to identify it. If they get stuck, they can open their eyes and use their memory to help them out.
  

Math Games

A lot of cooking revolves around being able to measure and weigh things correctly, so playing math kids cooking games can get them accustomed to using numbers around the kitchen. These will also help them develop their logical thinking, which helps in learning school subjects like math and science. Try playing:

• Guesstimate. Set a challenge of weighing out a certain weight, like four ounces, one pound, or a quality such as a tablespoon or a cup, of various baking ingredients. Cover up the numbers on your weighing scale and challenge your child to put in 100g of flour, sugar or butter. When they're ready, take off the cover and see how close they were. This will teach them that it's okay to be wrong, and to get better at making accurate guesses.


• Dividing. First, make something simple and round with your child, like a pie or a pizza. Invite some of their friends around for dinner, and ask your child to split the dish up so that everyone gets an equal share. For an extra challenge, ask your child to decorate the pizza so that everyone gets an equal amount of each topping.

Co-operative games

For kids cooking games that bring the true unifying power of working in the kitchen try playing:

• The one handed chef. Pick a simple recipe to make together with your child. Then explain that each of you can only use one hand and the other must stay behind your back. You then need to get the ingredients ready, make the dish and serve, all through working together. This really helps to improve communication and can be a real bonding experience.


• One job team. This works best when you have a team of young kitchen assistants. Assign each of them a job that is their responsibility, such as peeling, chopping or stirring. Then help them make the dish, going through the process person by person. This is good to help children think about the steps involved in cooking, and to help them patiently wait for their turn.


• While you are waiting for your food cooking try this game with a group:
  "I made a pizza and topped it with________." Each child takes a turn and has to remember all the previous items on the pizza plus add one of their own toppings. See how far you can go before someone forgets.


• Have a relay race with small or big items and kids have to fill up muffin tins or a mixing bowl. Whomever fills their bowl first wins.


• Set up the game by filling three bowls with cooked spaghetti. Divide the kids into three teams - one for each bowl. Give the first kid in the line a pair of chopsticks. On go, the first player grabs as many noodles as possible with the chopsticks. They run to the end of the line and drop the noodles into a second bucket. Passing off the chopsticks, the teams race for three minutes. Any dropped noodles are not counted. The team with the most noodles at the end of the race wins! by Michelle, IL


• Tell the kids to sit in a circle. Put M&Ms and cooking gloves in the middle. Then give one of the kids the dice and on the word GO they should roll the dice. Then pass it to the next person as soon as the first person rolls a six they will have to go in the middle put on the cooking gloves and try to eat as many M&Ms as possible. The person in the middle will keep eating them until the next person rolls a six. Then those two people will switch places! by Julia, CO


• Our Cook Doesn't Like Peas - yes, an interesting name for a quiet game! Have all the players, except one, sit in a row. The person who is "it" sits in front of the players and says to each in turn, "our cook doesn't like peas (P's); what would you give her instead?" The player must answer with some word that does not contain the letter "P." And that is the catch! If the player doesn't answer at the count of five, he must give up his turn. This game can be tricky because the words with a "P" are bound to slip out!

More Cooking Game Resources

Party Games and Ideas

Free online games

We have many Teaching Materials, cooking and food theme worksheets and more located in our store:

Readers Submitted Kids Cooking Games

Sing n Spin

by tracy blundell (london)

Sing n spin blind folded! All children sing and even move around in a circle, whilst singing a party song i.e 'who stole the cookie'. If the blind folded child guesses the correct name of the child they grab at the end of the song, they take a prize from him/her.. Supply them with a few prizes (cookies) each to play. Whoever has the most prizes is the winner!

Who Stole the Cookie?

by tracy blundell (london)

Whilst food is cooking or simply having a break; pass the parcel could be enjoyed whilst singing this well known 'merry little song' who stole the cookie from the cookie jar.

Cooking Star Party

by Annalena T. (NC)
This party is perfect for young cookers. Here's the decorations:

• Tidy up the whole kitchen, dining, and living area
• Put fake or real flowers in a vase on each table, etc.
• Leave the TV on for guests in waiting room
• Lay out magazines or books neatly on a couch, table, or ottoman
• With parents help, make a huge sign/poster that says,
• "_____'s Fancy Star Restaurant" (Please note: _____ is a blank for you to fill in your name.)

Fun games:

• Sneaky Guest Game
• Cooking Contest
• Best Baker
• Cutter's Cake
• Chop, Top, Hop!

Here's how to play...
Sneaky Guest Game
1. In each invitation there will be a card saying, "Once you arrive, feel free to sneak in the kitchen..."
2. Each guest will sneak into the kitchen- trying not to be seen.
3. If the guest(s) DOES get seen, they have to go back to the waiting room.
4. Do the rest!

Cooking Contest
1. Each guest will get a apron. (And possibly chef hat)
2. They'll get a recipe card and they'll have to compete together.
3. Whoever has the best food, wins a mini cook-book. (Found at stores)

Best Baker
1. Each player/guest will be making banana bread
2. Will parents help, they each pour batter into pan
3. They'll place pan carefully in the oven to recipe's heat
4. As soon as it comes out, the best tasting bread wins.

Cutter's Cake
1. Parent slices gourmet cake for each guest
2. The guests get blindfolded and eat cake
3. Whoever doesn't make a mess, wins.

Chop, Top, Hop!
1. Chop carrots, bell peppers, and/or strawberries
2. Top each one off with your desire!
3. Hop while you top it off
4. Best look and flavor wins!

Cooking Party Game

by Tizzy
I am turning 13 and this is a game that I am having in my Cooking Party:

You split the kids into teams of between 2 and 6. Each group is given a list of ingredients e.g eggs, butter, sugar... They then have to pick ingredients out of a bowl e.g. ketchup, jelly, pepperoni... They then have to make a dish using those ingredients - everyone has to try it!

The most important thing to remember when you're planning kids cooking games is to give yourself plenty of time. A dish that takes you 30 minutes to prepare by yourself will need at least an hour with your child. The last thing you want to do is to stress you both out with a time constraint.

Here are more games to play at a cooking party.

Follow Kids Cooking Activities