While we all love when our kids are given clutter-free, experience gifts, sometimes it is nice to have some type of tangible kids cooking gift ideas to go with it.
Giving the gift of cooking is one of the best things you could ever do for a child. It sets them up to explore new foods and gives them important life skills.
Sometimes grandparents and other loved ones prefer to give something physical along with that experience gift. You can send them this article to let them know what might be a good fit.
If you are looking for a clutter-free, experience gift idea, check out how you can give the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse as a gift here.
These kitchen tools are also great kids’ cooking gift ideas if you already own the course and want to find ways to encourage your kid to use it. As your kids master the skills, they may be ready to graduate to a sharper knife or learning fractions with measuring cups.
Here are some kid’s cooking gift ideas to go with the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse depending on your child’s age. Plus, you’ll get inspiration for all ages.
Depending on your budget, you can buy one item or make an entire gift set. When you purchase Kids Cook Real Food as a gift, you’ll get a printable certificate to give with a physical gift from this list!
Kids Cooking Gift Ideas for Toddlers
Let’s start with looking at gift ideas for the younger kids. These may also work for an older child as well depending on their skill level.
Crinkle Cutter
We gave our firstborn a crinkle cutter at 18 months old. Our young chef loved being able to slice his own food, and I loved not having to keep such a close eye on him with it.
Crinkle cutters work great on softer foods. I started with him chopping items like a peeled banana or a halved avocado.
We worked up to softer summer squashes, but as your child gets older and stronger, they can cut a carrot with it.
I did have one kiddo who cut themselves very mildly with the corner of it when they were trying to slice a radish. Since then, I’ve cut items in half so my kids have a flat surface to work from.
This is probably best for kids ages five and below.
When we had a preschooler, I actually bought multiple of these and kept them in my gift closet to share with other families for birthday gifts.
Cookie Cutters
Metal cookie cutters are more likely to be non-toxic and they’re usually sharp enough to cut through foods better than plastic. A bonus is that they’re dishwasher-safe.
Beyond cookies, you can use these cutters to pre-shape items for a snack or to cook items inside of:
- Eggs – Bake your eggs into fun shapes
- Melons – Slice them and then let your kids cut fun shapes out
- Sandwiches – Make lunch fun with unique cutouts
- Cheese and meats – Make a themed charcuterie board
- Pumpkin carving – Use a rubber mallet to hammer a fun design
- Gelatin (use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!) – See Katie’s jello recipe here that you can use in cookie cutters as small molds or that you can cut up after it sets
- Pizza toppings – Make a pizza bar together and cut your toppings into fun shapes
Plus, a cookie cutter kit also doubles as a great way to interact with play dough or clay. You could look for whatever shapes appeal to your kiddo like a dinosaur or other beloved characters.
Kids Cooking Gift Ideas for Preschoolers
Once your child has gained some fine motor skills, you can graduate to these utensils.
Nylon Knives
After our family got comfortable with the crinkle cutter, we got this nylon knife set as a Christmas gift.
We cut all of the same softer foods. I like that it was an easy way to teach the knife skills, like up and over soldier instructions. (If you’re not sure what that means, check out the free knife class here!
Because these were my kids’ knives that they had ownership of, they preferred to use them for tasks like spreading lessons rather than a butter knife.
The times that our kids have slipped with this knife, it scratches their skin no more than a fingernail would.
I also like that these knives are BPA-free. However, with a lot of force, they can scratch your table or counter. You may want to pair the next idea with it.
Cutting Board
If you do buy one of the knives above and want to purchase more, turn it into a cooking kit when you also buy a cutting board to go with it.
Since I started addressing my autoimmunity, I’ve used wooden cutting boards to avoid adding more microplastics to our foods.
Your kid will love having their own cutting board.
Just keep it in a lower cupboard that they can access.
Remember, wooden cutting boards are not dishwasher safe though. But you can teach your kid to take good care of it by rinsing it off immediately after each use.
Peeler
I grew up with a straight, swivel peeler, but we ended up getting our family a Y-shaped peeler.
We started with peeling cucumbers and then making carrot ribbons for salads.
Now we will peel rutabaga before making fries out of them.
Using a peeler is also our favorite way to prepare a mango.
A peeler would also be a good gift for your early elementary schooler. Let’s look at other gifts for that age next.
Your kids can learn to cook, even if you don’t know where to start
My 4 kids and I created the online Kids Cook Real Food lessons to help bring real food and independence to families all over. Over 10,000 kids have joined us and we’d love to invite you along for the adventure!
I’m so pleased to offer a little gift from our family to yours, a knife skills lesson as a free preview of the full cooking eCourse!
Kids Cooking Gift Ideas for Early Elementary Schoolers
Learn how you can encourage your mini chef in the kitchen with these ideas.
Related Article: Best Cooking Subscription Box for Kids
Measuring Cups
Once your kids are old enough to start understanding basic math, measuring cups are a great way to encourage them to do their own cooking.
Another bonus of measuring cups as we have our kids feed the dog with their measuring cups. We’ve learned a lot about math and fractions with this.
To keep our cookware non-toxic, we prefer to use stainless steel when we can find it. We’ve used these magnetic measuring cups for years.
Some of these have also ended up as bath toys. It’s been fun to see our kids play with their math skills.
Measuring Spoons
In the same way, measuring spoons are another great way to teach your kids math. They would be great for your little baker.
This would be a great fit, especially if your kids are into baking where there are a lot of small quantities of ingredients to be measured out.
I like this set because it has multiple fraction measures to learn from.
Paring Knives
We got one of our kids paring knives in their favorite color of handle. This knife set also includes a y-shaped peeler.
When we started with this, I would always do the first cut to give a flat surface on foods like a pear or an apple and then I would let the kid do the rest.
We graduated to being able to slice a half avocado with this and scooping out the rest.
Oven Mitts
Oven mitts are a great way to teach your kid about oven safety. We started by having our kids practice putting items into the oven with the oven mitts before I turned it on to preheat.
A crafty loved one would enjoy making a pair of homemade oven mitts or you could pick these ones up from Amazon.
Ours get taken out of the kitchen frequently as accessories for dress-up. Oven mitts could also work for older kids as well.
Kids Cooking Gift Ideas for Upper Elementary Schoolers and Tweens
Let’s look at cooking gift ideas for older kids.
Chef Junior
Katie’s son Paul was one of the authors of this amazing cookbook. Your child will be inspired to make these recipes that were made by kids.
This complete cookbook will inspire your child in the kitchen. It’s really well done.
RELATED: How Chef Junior was created.
Chef’s Knife
As your kids build their life skills, learning how to use a chef’s knife is a great way to build his or her confidence in the kitchen.
We started this one with our oldest sitting in our lap with our hands on top of theirs to make sure they were using it safely.
Now they can use it in the kitchen with us.
While it is a little bit risky, we’ve asked them to still not use it without direct supervision. But I know that will change as they get older.
Kids Cooking Gift Ideas for All Ages
Last, let’s look at a kid’s cooking gift idea that will work for any age!
Apron
Last Christmas, one of the grandmas made an apron for one of our kids. They found fabric with one of their favorite book characters.
I’m grateful that they erred on the side of making it a tad big. We simply tie a knot in the top of the neck so that it sits high enough to protect their clothes.
A homemade apron is a great idea to suggest if there’s someone in your family who is crafty and would prefer to make something. An older sibling may also enjoy making it as a gift as part of a home economics or skills for living class. Here is a high-quality apron if you don’t have someone to make one.
I hope you have found some inspiration this holiday season to build your child’s skills in the kitchen. Whether you give a cooking set or give a companion gift for Kids Cook Real Food, you’ll be helping your child have a positive relationship with food.
Kids who are involved in the kitchen are less likely to be picky eaters!
Here’s to empowering your kids in the kitchen and to their health!
Share your ideas for cooking gifts for kids!