Christmas Cooking with Children
Festive treats don't need to be super sweet or unhealthy! Take a look at some of our festive delights that you can make with your little learner.
The festive season is an amazing family time with opportunities for everyone to get involved in the Christmas cooking! The holidays often involve overindulging in sweet treats, however when you are cooking for little ones it’s important to offer some other alternatives, providing healthy options in a fun and festive way!
At Genius Childcare, we like to celebrate special events and holidays worldwide, incorporating some fun and pairing events with their relevant cuisines. Take a look at some of our festive delights below, a nutritional balance between sweet and healthy options for the Christmas season, which you can create at home with your little learner.
Mini Christmas Plum Puddings
Creating mini-Christmas plum puddings with your little one is very simple and a lot of fun! You can purchase delicious ready-made plum puddings from your local supermarket. Using a melon baller or spoon, select a golf ball size of pudding and roll balls. Cut up lolly raspberries and mint leaves make the perfect ‘holly’ decoration for the top of your mini puddings. A drizzle of melted white chocolate dresses these little treats to stick your holly on top. When creating this treat with little one’s ensure it’s an alcohol-free plum pudding or Christmas cake! Making these bite sized delights is a good way to offer a festive treat in a more child appropriate portion size!
Festive Santa Hats
Edible Santa hats are gorgeous and even more manageable with children as there is no baking involved. You will need some fresh strawberries, whipped cream and an Oreo or a round chocolate biscuit of your choice. Cover your chocolate biscuit with cream, top with a strawberry and finish with a pom-pom of cream, completing the perfect and most effortless festive treat, which will bring a lot of joy to every Christmas treat table.
Fruit salad Christmas Tree
This fruity Christmas tree is a refreshing addition to any Christmas table and a fun way to incorporate some summer fruits into your celebrations. We are spoilt in Australia in the summertime with the abundance of delicious summer fruit which can be incorporated into your Christmas platters. Using a star cookie cutter, you can create stunning stars for your tree from oranges or melons. Creative little learners will love helping to create this deliciously healthy treat while developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Enjoy utilising these yummy fruits today.
Festive Vegetable Christmas Wreath
There is nothing like the freshness of veggies and summer fruits at Christmas time. Like the Christmas tree, you can create a vegetable or antipasto wreath using the freshest seasonal ingredients. Using a star cookie cutter, your little one can cut out some Christmas stars from cucumbers or capsicums. Arrange them in a circular platter to arrange the wreath shape. To elevate the flavours to another level, you can add some fresh berries as baubles around your wreath, or even round cut cheese or deli meats rolled into little rosettes! This is the perfect platter to take to your next Christmas gathering. Healthy + delicious!
Frozen Watermelon Christmas Trees
Frozen watermelon Christmas trees are a perfect festive snack for little ones and a great way to cool down this season. Naturally sweet and juicy, these trees are super easy to create and fun for all ages. They are easy to make, and the perfect alternative to the sugary store brought icy poles.
You can cut the watermelon into tree shapes or use a tree-shaped cookie cutter to create these festive fruits. To make the trees easy to hold for children, it's best to use the outer skin of the watermelon as the truck. Dip the top of the tree into natural Greek yoghurt or a favourite yoghurt of your choice and place it on a tray. Using berries, sultanas or currents, decorate your trees by pressing the fruit into the yoghurt. Place in the freezer to set and then serve. This is sure to be a winner with all little chefs.
Christmas cooking is an enjoyable activity with children, provides opportunities for creativity and independence, and enhances many developmental skills. Why not give one of these super simple cooking activities a go today – we’d love to see what you create!
Like these simple Christmas activities, our in-house Nutritional Ninja program at Genius allows our children to learn about food, and its benefits for fuelling our bodies in a number of ways. Encouraging this curiosity for food and healthiness is very important for us and our children, which allows them to develop a passion for food, and an understanding of where it all comes from.
