Thanks Kidstir, for these great cooking kits! They are exciting and will bring such joy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a child, life often revolved around the kitchen. Our family did not have a separate dining room until the addition was built in my late teen years. Thus, family meals were at the kitchen table. We did homework at the table. We ate. We laughed. We even played games. I also remember helping mom with holiday baking. I don't remember much cooking until I was old enough to do things myself, but I do have vague memories of helping when I visited my grandparents. 

Cooking skills are skills that help us out for life. Whether it's simple, like knowing how to boil water, or more elaborate, like using yeast in pizza dough; cooking and baking skills walk us through all the hard times. From college ramen to putting family meals on the table, cooking can be a fun hobby! In fact, many of us reverted to DIY at home methods during covid, since we had the time and couldn't go anywhere. 

If your children have already indicated interest in baking or cooking, but you aren't sure where to start; then look no further than Kidstir Cooking Kits. These subscription based kits have monthly themes to help your child learn techniques, etiquette, foods, and more!

Kidstir sent over 2 boxes for us to try out: A Pizza Kit and the current themed kit, which happens to be a Back to School kit! 

My First Pizza Shop Kit comes with three recipes, a STEM project, a shopping list, and a crinkle cutter tool to help kids out while cooking. Kits  also come with a foodie magazine, stickers, and a family game. 

The current month's subscription kit is the Back to School Kit. It has 3 great recipes, a bonus project/recipe, videos, cooking tool, stickers, games, and a shopping list. The Back to School kit recipes included apple fries, granola smart bars, a rainbow quinoa bowl, and fruit rolls.

Out of the two kids, my niece loves cooking and being in the kitchen the most. She will make breakfast for the family, unprompted. She has taken virtual cooking classes, loves different kits, and loves following recipes. My nephew loves helping his mom (my sister) out, but he is younger, so he is easily distracted.

She is really excited to make her own pizza as well as make the granola bars! 

One of the things I most struggled with as a child was being a picky eater, and while I commend my mom for her patience with my eating habits, it took til I traveled to new cultures until I tried new things. Who knows what I would have discovered if I had only had these opportunities as a child! We know it's hard enough for us to eat healthy, let alone our kids, so I am glad that these kits have recipes on all ends of the spectrum!

For all you moms who hate a messy kitchen, well, cooking with children is going to be messy! You can minimize the chaos by setting a few things up in advance: 

• Starting with a clean kitchen and an empty dishwasher is a must. If your sink and counters are already clogged, the mess will just add to the stress! 
• Next, set up stations. Where will scraps or trash go? Perhaps a specific bowl or bucket for eggshells, fruit peels, etc. is needed. 
• Third, instruct your kiddo on what to do when they use something. If it falls on the floor- it goes directly to the dishwasher. If a spill is made, clean it up before moving on to the next thing. Part of cooking is the cleaning, so teaching them about this is also very important. 

With easy to follow directions, shopping lists, and plenty of family fun, these kits will help your children learn new skills and have fun learning about food! Maybe they will branch out and try something new. Yes, you still need to go grocery shopping- but you could use that time to teach your kiddo about budgeting, food costs, and how to pick the best meats, fruits, and veggies that they will be using!

Thank you, Kidstir, for sponsoring this amazing giveaway! Good luck, Readers!

Do your children like cooking?