Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up

I may be jumping the gun a bit, reviewing this book before trying any of the recipes.

But when I gave it to my 2 Littles to look over and to pick a recipe for us to try together, they enjoyed it very much. As I was driving, the littlest Little (granddaughter) read aloud, unprompted, the recipe she would most like to try, Blueberry Pancakes.

When she was done, I was filled with enthusiasm. I said to her, "I'm so excited. Do you realize that's the first recipe you picked to make? You will read a lot of recipes in your life, yummy things to make for yourself, your friends, your husband, your kids, but this will always be the first recipe you picked yourself and will make."

Her response wasn't quite the same level of amazement I expected. show more ha. But she is just 7 and I'm nearly 60 years older than her, so, yeah, that makes sense. Maybe in 60 years she too will say something similar to her grands.

Yippee for Sunday morning when we will have Blueberry pancakes!

Before they move out of state at the end of summer (away from newly unfriendly Texas 2025), I hope we'll have time to try a few more recipes from this book together. show less

Mollie Katzen, renowned author of The Moosewood Cookbook, and educator Ann Henderson bring the grown-up world of real cooking to a child's level. Children as young as three years old and as old as eight become head chef while an adult serves as guide and helper. Extensively classroom- and home-tested, these recipes are designed to inspire an early appreciation for creative, wholesome food. Whimsical watercolor critters and pictorial versions of each recipe will help the young cook understand and delight in the process. Just consider all that can be explored in the kitchen: counting, reading readiness, science awareness, self-confidence, patience, and, importantly, food literacy. Pizza, after all, does not come "from a telephone."
You and show more your child can have great fun finding this out! show less

This is a simply charming first cookbook. A good variety of healthy, kid-friendly, and vegetarian (Katzen is best known for the vegetarian standby, The Moosewood Cookbook) recipes suitable for kid-parent cooking. I loved this book when I was a little girl--try the homemade soda and the green spaghetti!

The best cookbook for Children I've ever seen. Every parent should have this and use it. It includes both pages for children to use and read as well as parental lesson plans for each recipe. It's genius. A fun book with a serious purpose.

An awesome resource for anyone who loves to cook with children. The pictographic recipes make it easy to use with pre-readers.

Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen
Various recipes for kids to make. Not only are these healhy
but they are visually stimulating and they are not hard to
kids to do the making themselves. Reminds me of the time I
helped my mother in law who was in charge of the local Head
Start Nutrition for all the kids put together a recipe book
for kids to make the food. The drawings and colors and food
used is a big help. Recipes for Fruit drinks in the blender
and other foods kids will eat are included.

21 months - you like everything "cooking" so although we didn't cook any of these recipes we talked about them and discussed the great step by step instructions. We will borrow this book again and make some pretend soup! I love the idea of using photocopies cut up for sequencing exercises before making the recipe.