Get the kids into the kitchen! I have 15 Kid-Friendly Summer Recipes for sweet snacks, simple bakes, and cool drinks. Make tasty treats together and lots of fun memories, too!
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It's summer vacation! And that means the kids are home from school, they're bored, and—they're hungry!
Here are some fun and refreshing treats that you can make with your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, and the kids you're babysitting. There are recipes here for treats like a chocolaty cake, milkshakes, and fruit-filled dishes.
Get your kids off the couch and start a fun tradition of whipping up Kid-Friendly Summer Recipes together! Then, you can kick back together on the deck or porch to dig into these delicious drinks and snacks.
In a nutshell... 🐿️
- What this is: Refreshing treats and snacks to make with kids! From berry-filled desserts to cool milkshakes, the recipes are fun activities for New England summer days.
- You'll love this part: These recipes will help break up the boredom of summer vacation days. They're sweet, stress-free treats to make together; the start of a sweet tradition of cooking with your kids.
- How to use this collection: Look through this collection of kid-friendly recipes, then tap on the links to get complete directions and ingredients lists. Save and bookmark your favorites!
Jump to:
What are kid-friendly recipes?
The recipes that are appropriate to make with kids vary greatly, depending on the age of the kids, the type of recipe, and how much experience they have with helping in the kitchen.
When I think of kid-friendly recipes, and when I chose the recipes in this collection, it's those dishes where a young child working with an adult can safely help. Of course, the recipe has to be interesting to them, and that's easy with sweet treats that they know they'll get to dig into!
But with any recipe, the fact is most kids are eager to help their parents, grandparents, or other caregivers in the kitchen. It's an experience that builds confidence, teaches new skills, and gets kids more interested in trying dishes and ingredients that are new to them.
Most importantly, making simple recipes together with kids is fun and makes lots of awesome memories! Just like the memories I made with my mom, sister, and grandmother. And the memories I made with my own kids, and that I'm beginning now with my grandson.
When choosing a recipe to make with your kids, just keep these things in mind:
- Any recipe that calls for working with the stove, oven, or other cookers should have an adult present to supervise.
- The same is true for recipes that call for slicing and chopping using kitchen knives or appliances like blenders and processors.
- You can show the kids you're working with how to use these tools whenever it's safe to do so, but also let them know that some steps may be ones only the adult can do.
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Why you'll love these easy Kid-Friendly Summer Recipes
Whether you and your kiddos want to make a treat to share on movie nights, a mid-afternoon nosh, or something festive to bring to the birthday party or 4th of July cookout, I've got ideas for you!
There are lots of fun recipes using fruit, like Chocolate-Covered Cherries or summery Fruit Salad. On hot days, an Ice Cream Float with cherry soda is refreshing and fun!
Just because it's hot out doesn't mean you can't bake up something sweet. My grandmother's recipe for Chocolate Wacky Cake is a perfect little snack cake. And there are soft Iced Vanilla Cookies, too.
No matter which kid-friendly summer recipe you choose, you'll have so much fun with your kids in the kitchen, and create memories you'll all hold onto and cherish.
15 Kid-Friendly Summer Recipes
Find recipes below to make with the kiddos in your house! They're organized by drinks, ice creams, fruit dishes, and baked treats.
Kid-Friendly Drink Recipes
Ice Cream Floats with Pop Rocks
These are fun for the 4th of July, or anytime during the summer! Kids can help pour cherry soda and add scoops of vanilla ice cream. They'll also love adding a little pop with Pop Rocks candy.
Toasted Marshmallow Blueberry Milkshakes
I love this recipe because you can toast the marshmallows outside or inside in the oven! Kids can help add ice cream and blueberry sauce to the blender, and garnish the shakes with marshmallows.
Shamrock Green Milkshakes
It's not St. Patrick's Day, but these green milkshakes are still fun to make! Kids can help add ingredients to the blender, including ice cream and chocolate chips. And let them top the shakes with Lucky Charms cereal.
Kid-Friendly Fruit Recipes
Sparkly Chocolate-Covered Cherries
There's no better way to enjoy fresh summer cherries! Kids can help dip the fruit in melted chocolate, and most important—add the sprinkle of sparkly sugar.
Watermelon, Berries, and Cream
These little desserts in jars are perfect for a summer party! Kids can help press star shapes from sliced watermelon, and with layering fruit, cream, and cookies into the jars.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake
Kids will love seeing how berries, cream, and graham crackers transform overnight into a sliceable cake! Let kids help mix the cream filling, and layer ingredients into the pan.
Blueberry Sauce
When you get home from picking blueberries, you and your kids can make this sweet, 15-minute sauce! I love it on ice cream. Older kids can help stir the sauce on the stove top.
Summer Fruit Salad
The soft berries and melon in this salad are easy to slice with child-safe plastic knives. Kids can help make this salad for afternoon snacks and weekend cookouts.
Kid-Friendly Ice Cream Recipes
Peanut Butter Crunch Flurry
A fast food treat you can make at home! Kids can help add peanut butter cookies, cereal, and chocolate chips into softened ice cream in the mixer. This flurry is so good!
No-Churn Lemon Ice Cream
Here's one that bigger kids can help with: using a mixer to make whipped cream folded with lemon and sweetened condensed milk. This ice cream sets overnight in the freezer, and it's so refreshing with blueberries.
Kid-Friendly No-Bake Treat
Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
Granola, peanut butter, and chocolate make tasty treats to share with friends. Kids can help mix ingredients, then scoop the chocolaty mixture onto wax paper. Put them in the fridge to set.
Kid-Friendly Baking Recipes
Chocolate Wacky Cake
Bake a cake in the summertime? Absolutely! This is a fun little snack cake that's so chocolatey. Let kids add the ingredients right to the pan and then stir them up. They can pick their favorite frosting for the top.
White Chocolate Chex Mix
This is a fun sweet snack for sleepovers and movie nights. Show kids how baking the cereal makes it extra toasty and crisp. Kids can help stir everything together with white chocolate and sprinkles.
Hulk Rice Krispie Treats
This is another treat perfect for a party! Candy Melts help give these Krispie treats color and flavor. Your kids can help press the mixture into the pan, and decorate the top.
Vanilla Cozy-Ups Cookies
Here's an easy cookie recipe that's rich with vanilla flavor. Kids can help mix up and scoop the dough. Once they're baked, have kids help dip the cookies into a sweet vanilla icing.
I was on the news!
Shortly after appearing on The Morning Brew show on Burlington Vermont's Local 44 News (WVNY/WFFF) to celebrate my Grand Prize-winning recipe for the National Girl Scouts Cookie Recipe contest, I returned to share some summertime kid-friendly recipes!
In the videos below, Chief Meteorologist Amanda Thibault and I talk about kid-friendly recipes like fruit smoothies, and also my fruit and cream layered desserts in little jars.
😎 Have a great summer making delicious treats with your kids!
armchairsquid says
You're becoming quite the television personality. Don't forget us little people when you hit the big time!
Nancy Mock says
Haha, never!
armchairsquid says
Sure, you say that now...