When we were little, spring break meant time at Camp Grandma. And that was all we needed, because Camp Grandma more or less involved a week of baking cookies with our favourite family member. Turns out some fun never gets old: here are our favourite ways to cook up some fun in your kitchen over spring break, whether your kids are hanging out at Camp Grandma, or hanging around your own kitchen!

Science experiments:

It’s easy to forget that cooking is actually all about science. Wow your little lab partners with these (reasonably) low-mess science experiments you can put together using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Kids of all ages will love making and mushing their way through ice cream in a bag, slime, or cornstarch goo. Walking on eggs is a surefire crowd-pleaser for ages 4 and up—just make sure your crowd is hungry, because this experiment works best with lots of eggs! Older kids will enjoy making fruit juice slushies or putting all 5 senses through this spice test.

Cooking projects:

Cooking’s always more fun with a friend, so if you’re hosting your kids’ besties you might want to break out a playdate-friendly cooking project. The bonus to this approach? You’re guaranteed that the kids are making you lunch. Try pizzas; soba rolls; or for a sweeter snack, peanut butter banana quesadillas - just don’t forget that if you’ve got kids who don’t have knife skills yet, you’ll need to do a bit of prepping to set out various toppings the kids can choose between. On the flip side, if you’ve got a team of serious chefs, keep them really busy by challenging them to submit a recipe to us!

Kitchen toys:

Who says you can’t play with your food? Your kitchen’s rich in toy potential, starting with classic projects like soup can stilts (for smaller feet, try tuna can stilts) and milk carton cars. Younger children will love playing in sensory bins - try putting popcorn, birdseed or rice in a bin with some small toys and give them some containers to scoop with. We like this birdseed sensory bin a lot, since the birds will help you clean up any hits your garden takes. And if you’re still hearing “I’m booooored?” Never underestimate the distracting power of a lemonade stand. Once your kids have worked out their secret recipe (here’s a not-so-secret one), show them these stands to get them inspired, and send them outside for a little spring sunshine.

Have you got your own kitchen projects lined up for spring break? We’d love to hear about them on our Facebook Page. Plus, if you live in the Lower Mainland, some of our favourite parent bloggers have rounded up last minute spring break activities just for you. And if you have an idea we missed, tell us on Twitter!