Children's Cooking Activities About Animals

Children sometimes exhibit poor eating habits such as eating unhealthy foods, over- or under-eating, or just being finicky. An novel way for parents to encourage healthy eating habits is to have kids participate in cooking activities that grab their attention. Animal-themed cooking activities satisfy kids' curiosity about animals and foster healthy food habits at the same time.

  1. Animal Face Sandwiches

    • Animal-face sandwiches appeal to toddlers.

      When entertaining toddlers and preschoolers--who can sometimes be picky eaters--making silly animal-face sandwiches is a simple way to get them interested in lunchtime. Give your little one two slices of toast thinly coated with peanut butter and jelly. Offer her a variety of kid-favorite finger foods to create animal faces. Use raisins for eyes, sliced peaches for smiling (or frowning) lips, carrot or celery sticks for whiskers, and any other healthy snacks you have on hand. Allowing children to play with food in a constructive manner can encourage positive adult eating habits.

    Gorrilla Goulash

    • Gorilla Goulash is served over noodles.

      The San Diego Zoo website has a children's recipe section with animal-themed cooking projects that coincide with short stories and fun facts about the zoo animal featured in each recipe. One of the website's nearly 30 animal recipes is Gorilla Goulash. The recipe calls for ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, wide noodles, and a few other common ingredients and is simple enough for children to prepare with adult supervision. While preparing the dish, children are learning about the eating, sleeping, and family habits of gorillas. Some other San Diego Zoo kids' recipes are Panda Pita Pockets, Umbrella Bird Upside-Down Cakes, Warthog Waffles and Dandy Duck Dip with Quackers.

    Alligator Animal Italian Bread

    • Create animal-shaped bread with ordinary dough.

      Breads (especially those made with whole grains) are a good source of nutrition. You may be able to coax your child into eating more wholesome breads by making alligator Italian bread, or another animal-shaped bread. Use a basic Italian bread dough recipe like the one offered at AllRecipes.com, and form the dough into the shape of an alligator. Working the dough as if it were modeling clay, create an elongated nose, place aluminum foil between the jaws to create a mouth, (you can remove the foil after baking), and a make tail that curves to the side. If alligators don't interest your child, she can use her imagination to create her favorite animals from the dough.

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