Create a Kids' Cooking Apron!

Does your child show signs of being the next great chef? Maybe she’s right there next to you every time she hears you chopping veggies, or maybe she's your sous chef, eagerly awaiting to help stir the batter or mix ingredients. Whatever she likes to do in kitchen, here's an activity to encourage her culinary interest and skills. Color a healthy-fruits-and-vegetables cooking apron! Not only will this project let her apply her writing skills to something real, but she'll also be making a fun and fashionable kitchen accessory while she's at it.

What You Need:

• Kid’s fabric apron (available at Michael’s Craft Store)
• Fabric markers
• Iron-on food pictures or patches
• Iron
• Optional: fabric glue

1. Help your child plan the design of the apron. Teach her healthy fruit and vegetable names, or have her name some of her favorites. You can refer to grocery ads for pictures.
2. Using a fabric marker, your child can write her name and something catchy like “Mom’s Helper” or “Junior Chef" on the front of the apron.
3. Now decorate the apron by drawing her favorite fruits and vegetables with the fabric markers.
4. If you have iron-on food pictures, iron those on according to the instructions for your child. If you have food patches, you can iron or glue them onto the apron.

When everything is dry, your child will have a beautiful apron to help you cook dinner or any meal with!

You can use this opportunity to teach your child about healthy eating. Pick up some of the vegetables she's drawn, and let her help wash and peel them. Who knows? She might be more inclined to eat her veggies, if she helped cook them.