Georgina Atwell, the founder of the UK’s leading children’s book review platform Toppsta, gives her choice of great recipe books for children
With the summer holidays almost here and parents and carers already looking for ways to keep our children occupied, cooking at home is a great way to spend some time together without breaking the bank. And, like reading, learning to cook is a skill for life. Get them interested when they’re young and they’ll understand that food doesn’t just appear on the table, that a tasty meal can be quick and healthy and that cooking can be fun.
These are ten of my favourite cookbooks perfect for rainy days:
My First Green Cook Book by David Atherton
New out this summer, this follow up to the hugely successful “My First Cook Book” by David Atherton (2019 winner of The Great British Bake Off) has 40 easy-to-follow plant-based recipes to inspire young vegetarians. With so many children taking an interest in the environment, this collection will encourage children to eat well, feel good and protect the planet.
Bake It: More than 150 Recipes for Kids
With 150 simple step-by-step recipes this is a brilliant book for budding bakers tackling everything from bread to meringues. Each recipe has a difficulty rating with plenty of photos to help you along the way.
This how-to book, has a great selection of simple sweet and savoury recipes with fun activities, places to scribble your own notes and fun food facts. It has plenty of child-friendly recipes like chicken nuggets and a tools and techniques section at the front to help get you started.
Cool Kids Cook by Jenny Chandler
This is a great cookbook for older children who like trying new foods and something a bit more challenging. It also contains information on how to shop, plan and balance your diet with ‘grown up’ recipes they can use for life.
Pie for Breakfast: Simple Baking Recipes for Kids by Cynthia Cliff
This quirky picture book includes recipes taken from all over the world, all presented in a story format with beautiful folk-art style illustrations.
Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes
These easy recipes are perfect for younger children who will have heaps of fun making Gruffalo inspired treats such as owl ice-cream and scrambled snake. A great way to introduce little ones to cooking and baking.
Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street by Felicita Sala
This lovely picture book tells the story of all the neighbours at 10 Pomegranate Street, as each apartment prepares a special dish to share with their neighbours. With a glorious selection of recipes from its various inhabitants, it’s a wonderful celebration of community and diversity.
The Kew Gardens Children’s CookBook by Caroline Craig
This beautiful book contains step-by-step guides to growing vegetables in the garden, including planting seeds, watering and weeding, harvesting and composting. After the excitement of watching them grow, it then provides advice on preparing and cooking your home-grown vegetables for a delicious, tasty meal at home.
If you’re tired of throwing away your kids’ slime creations, this book contains a selection of edible recipes for some satisfying and sticky fun, using ingredients you probably already have at home.
Roald Dahl’s Completely Revolting Recipes
If your kids like a slice of the weird and wonderful, this collection of recipes includes Wormy Spaghetti and Bellypopping Butterscotch, the perfect cookbook for Roald Dahl fans.
Georgina Atwell founded the UK’s leading children’s book review platform Toppsta (where every book is reviewed by kids!). Find out how kids can win £3,000 worth of book tokens for them and their school in Toppsta’s Summer Book Review Competition: https://bit.ly/ToppstaReviewPack