Ask your kids to think of their favorite foods, then have them write down what they think the ingredients are and how it's prepared. Collect their recipes in a notebook with the actual recipes for a one-of-a-kind keepsake. Feeling adventurous? Prepare the dish according to their interpretation .
Make some beautiful music right in your own kitchen. Use pots, pans, plastic ware, big spoons, a few canned goods, cardboard rolls from paper towels (they make great horns), a box of pasta, etc. Work together to arrange your "instruments" and decide what songs to play. Or create your own musical masterpiece!
Get everybody involved in dinnertime by handing cooking duties over to the kids. You may want to lay a few ground rules about vegetables and exactly what course cookies belong in, but once a menu is finalized, turn control of the kitchen over to your young chefs (supervising as necessary, of course) and see what culinary delights come forth.
Get a bag of dried beans and a lidded container (any size will do). On Sunday, fill the container with beans. Everybody has until Friday to submit their guess for how many beans are in there. On Friday, count the beans. Whoever comes closest wins and gets to name the menu for Saturday night's dinner. Try it again next week with a different container.
Treat dinnertime like a pro sports event. In the process of making dinner, take turns giving "play-by-play" of what's happening in the kitchen. "Wow, that water is really boiling now! Let's see how Mom gets the spaghetti into that pot. Amazing!" Interview everyone after dinner to get their take on that evening's meal.
Round up all of your plastic food containers (that don't have food in them) and lay them out on the floor or on a table. Take turns stacking them up and see how tall a structure you can create. For head-to-head competition, see who can build a structure of ten containers the fastest.
Kids will have a blast making and decorating a custom pizza. All you need are a pizza crust and your favorite pizza toppings -- pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, anchovies -- anything you think will make your pizza great. Take turns creating a crazy pizza face, or design unique individual slices. Keep adding items to the pizza until everyone agrees it's perfect. After a quick trip to the oven, it's time to eat!
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