15 Kid-Friendly Cookbooks

Little Helpers Toddler Cookbook by Heather Wish Staller is perfect for cooking with kids ages 1 to 4. Introduce new flavors with the simplest tasks and most importantly, have fun together! There are additional titles in the Little Helpers series.

Food Play! by Amy Palanjian is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. The book focuses on the experience of food, so recipes are simple and encourage sensory exploration. Make a bowl of oatmeal with a cute fruit face for baby bear's porridge, or practice sprinkling toppings in a yogurt bowl.

Chef Junior was written by a group of 5 kids, and who better would know exactly what kids want to make? This book has a section on knife skills and other kitchen tools, in addition to recipes for every meal.

Little Bento, by Michele Olivier, is a great go-to book for packing school lunches. It follows the bento box style but without too many specialty tools. As cute as food art is, you want meals your child can make and eat and this book has plenty of them.

Edible Crafts Kids' Cookbook Ages 4-8 is by Charity Mathews. These edible crafts are fun and creative recipes, like monster veggie cups and an animal cracker zoo. Parents will love that each recipe has a "mess-o-meter" that lets you know how messy this might get.

Good Housekeeping Kids Cook is by Susan Westmoreland. Good Housekeeping has put together a kid-friendly cookbook that's the perfect balance of easy and fun. Perfect for kids of all ages, you'll find recipes like green eggs and ham sandwiches, and waffle brownies.

The Big, Fun Kids Cookbook was put together by Food Network Magazine. It's filled with recipes for every meal, along with tips for cooking with kids and foodie games. Enjoy classics like waffles and rigatoni bolognese as well creative twists like the fake-out cakes.

Kid Chef Every Day by Colleen Kennedy is another spiral-bound cookbook. Sections include an introduction to cooking skills and lots of tips, along with photos of kids in the kitchen. If you enjoy the recipes in this everyday cookbook, there are more in this series on baking and holidays.

The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs was created by America's Test Kitchen. It covers everything from basic bread, cakes, and cookies to pizza crust and zucchini bread. You'll also find photos and step-by-step instructions for lots of essential baking skills.

Cooking Class by Deanna F. Cook is intended for kids ages 6 to 12. It introduces basic cooking skills with recipes for things like applesauce and quesadillas. What makes this book stand out is a simple feature - it's spiral-bound, so it will lay flat when open.

The Cookbook for Kids is written by Lisa Atwood and produced by Williams-Sonoma. It's perfect for kids ages 7 to 12 and includes recipes for every meal. There are also little food facts and tips to go with each one.

The Ultimate Kids' Cookbook by Tiffany Dahle focuses on kids doing the cooking with adults being the "helpers." Kids ages 6 to 14 can make easy recipes, all one-dish meals that don't have a lot of ingredients or supplies.

Bake It, from DK, is a collection of recipes from other DK cookbooks. It includes muffins, cakes, pastries, cookies, bread, and even some no-bake treats. The first sections of the book are filled with DK's iconic image style to illustrate kitchen safety and equipment. Every recipe includes step-by-step photos.

Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh, and Easy Recipes is by food blogger Catherine McCord. Her philosophy is all about kids eating the same foods as adults, which includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. This book is packed with recipes that will appeal to toddlers as much as adults.

Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals is also by Catherine McCord. We included this book because it's very similar to her first book but focuses on recipes that are perfect for school lunches, after school snacks, and weekends when it seems like your kids are hungry every hour.