June 2026 — Summer Cooking Challenge: Check out three of our Favorite Cookbooks for Kids, and send us your favorite recipes!

A Note from Ellen Smith, editor, Inkandescent Kids magazine —There are some cookbooks in my kitchen that are still in pristine condition. But the best cookbooks are stained, wrinkled, and held together by packing tape. These kitchen staples won’t become family heirlooms–I’m not even sure these tried-and-true volumes will survive another decade! When my kids are in the kitchen with me, though, I hope that I’m passing down all the things I love about cooking.

Naturally, my kids have amassed several of their own cookbooks. Pictured here are three of their favorites:

Turkey Burgers are an easy, healthy meal kids can make with their parents! Add any toppings you love. Recipe by Chef Kim Katz, mom of Emma and Alejandro

Don’t be fooled by the picture: I used some creative angling (and a little Photoshop) to hide the evidence of how often these cookbooks have been used. Just like my trusty favorites, these books have handwritten notes in the margins, bookmarks between wrinkled pages, and a few places they’ve been patched up with tape. Those are the marks of a great cookbook: they’re well-loved and well-used!

What makes these three cookbooks such a hit with the youngest cooks in our family? I’ll let them tell you!

The Complete Cookbook for Young Scientists

This cookbook has real science experiments for questions like “what is gluten?” and “why do we salt our food?” After you do the experiment for each topic, the book explains the science behind it. Then the book includes some more recipes so you can practice the cooking skill you just learned about in the experiment. I liked the instructions and the pictures for each step.

The Disney Princess Cookbook

I like making the food in this book for family movie night. I like pretending that I’m making food just like the princesses do in their movies. And a lot of the food is really good, too. We made the Te Fiti Tropical fruit punch for a Moana birthday party!

Ellen Smith, homeschool mom and editor, Inkandescent Kids magazine

Cooking Class Global Feast! by Deanna F. Cook

We got this when we were studying different countries around the world. I liked the desserts best! Making brigadeiros was my favorite dessert. We used coconut milk instead of dairy milk because some people in our family can’t eat dairy. It still worked and they were really good!

You are invited! This month on Inkandescent Kids, let’s explore all the wonderful ways that kids can be creative in the kitchen. Check out a kid-friendly turkey burger recipe from award-winning chef Kim Katz. Meet Fran Nelson and learn about her volunteer work at Rising Above Bakery. And of course, submit your favorite recipes and cookbook reviews to us: Editor Ellen and publisher Hope Gibbs

Let’s get cooking! — The team at Inkandescent Kids!