Do you cook with your kids? Like really cook with them? Do you let them take the lead and do all the steps even if that means making a big ole mess and everyone ending up covered in pizza sauce? I’ve started to incorporate kid-prep-friendly meals into our week and it truly has been so much fun for the kids. Keep reading for the recipe!

Cooking with Our Children

Cooking with your kids is not only a lot of fun for them, but can help build confidence, encourage them to try new foods, and build basic skills like reading, math, memory, and dexterity. If you’re a perfectionist like me, it can be a bit hard to let the kids completely wreck the kitchen and do the bulk of the cooking themselves, but try your best to be hands-off here!

I like to take charge of the grown-up parts and let the girls do the rest. For example, I read through the recipe, pointing out what the words are on the screen, and helping my oldest sound out new words. I will identify the different ingredients we are using and what their purpose is for our final product. Try pulling out several measuring utensils, identifying them for your child, and then testing their memory by asking, “Okay, which one is a tablespoon? Which one do we use to measure a cup of flour?” I find that when I reinforce learning while we are baking, I get less focused on the mess and the fact that the cheese isn’t evenly spread across our dough.

Pizza Pockets for Lunch

I’m still relatively new to this whole ‘let-it-go and let them cook’ mentality, so I take the easy route for now when cooking with the kids. These pizza pockets are easily customizable for each person’s preferences and come together quickly, so no one is running off bored because lunch is taking too long!

[tasty-recipe id=”297″]

Be sure to let me know if you tried this recipe and share your favorite meal to bake with kids in the comments!