Easy Crafts for Kids While Dinner Cooks: The Platein28 Approach
Dinner time is busy, especially when kids want to be part of the action while you’re cooking. At Platein28, we pair quick recipes that follow our 28-minute dinner approach with easy crafts that keep little hands busy during dinner prep. Many of these activities use simple supplies and relate to the ingredients, theme, or season of the meal. Inspired by the food you’re making, these crafts turn everyday materials into fun kitchen-table projects. Kids stay busy and feel more connected to the meal.
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Why We Love Crafting During Dinner
- Keeps kids busy. Simple crafts keep kids creatively engaged while dinner cooks, giving parents a few uninterrupted minutes to focus on getting the meal on the table.
- Connects to our recipes. Many crafts relate to the meal parents are preparing. These connections can also help spark curiosity about foods, which can be especially helpful when you’re planning dinner for picky eaters.
- Uses simple supplies. Most crafts use everyday materials like paper plates, dry pasta, construction paper, and recycled containers, making them quick and easy to set up.
Looking for other ways to keep kids busy while you cook? Browse full list of simple, realistic activities here.
🥑 Food-Themed Crafts That Connect to the Meal
Many Platein28 crafts are inspired by the recipe parents are making and help give kids a fun way to feel involved in the mealtime experience. You’ll find crafts that:
- Use real ingredients. Kids can use extra dry lasagna noodles to create a cheerful paper plate sunflower craft or transform avocado skins into simple avocado boats that actually float.
- Create play food for imaginative play. From paper asparagus to felt hot dogs, these crafts turn everyday materials into pretend foods for play kitchens.
- Are edible. Kids turn simple ingredients into playful food art, like rainbow tortillas or veggie skeletons.
❄️ Seasonal Crafts for Kids
Platein28 crafts often connect to the recipe parents are making as well as the season, holiday, or occasion the meal celebrates. You’ll find crafts that:
- Celebrate the four seasons. In spring and summer, kids can create bright crafts like paper plate watermelons or adorable fish puppets. In the Fall, they can make a handprint corn on the cob or tennis ball apples inspired by harvest favorites. During the winter months, projects like pasta snowflakes help celebrate the colder season.
- Celebrate holidays and special occasions. Kids turn everyday materials into festive crafts. Tin cans become Easter bunny candy dishes, and egg cartons become treasure boxes. For Halloween, they can melt colorful crayons onto pumpkins, while Christmas brings edible fun with crafts like graham cracker reindeer and strawberry Santa hats.
🧻 Easy Crafts Using Simple Household Supplies
Many of the best kids crafts use simple supplies families already have at home. Some of our favorite and most simple supplies include:
- Recyclables. Many of our crafts use tin cans to create things like pencil holders and flower vases. Kids can use tissue boxes to make DIY piggy banks and toilet paper rolls to make critter napkin rings or play food carrots!
- Construction Paper. Some of our paper crafts include pop-up paper peppers, lemon paper fans and more!
- Paper/plastic dinnerware. Paper plates make great seashell crafts and paper pizzas, while plastic cups and bowls can be transformed into party cup ladybugs and mushroom houses, to name a few.
- Dry pasta and pantry ingredients. Set aside extra pasta or rice for crafts. Kids can dye pasta to make play food mac and cheese or fill a sealed toilet paper roll with rice for a musical shaker.
❓FAQ
Most of our crafts are best suited for preschool and elementary-aged kids. The projects use simple steps and basic supplies so children can work independently or with minimal help at the kitchen table during dinner prep.
Most crafts take about 10–20 minutes, making them perfect for the time it takes to prepare a quick weeknight dinner.
No special supplies are needed for most Platein28 crafts. Many projects use everyday materials like paper plates, construction paper, dry pasta, markers, glue, and recycled containers.
That’s great! Cooking together has a ton of benefits and is a wonderful way for kids to learn new skills and feel involved in the meal. Many Platein28 recipes include simple, age-appropriate kitchen tasks kids can help with. For more ideas, see our guide to Kids Kitchen Activities by Age.
With a few simple supplies and a little creativity, dinner prep can become a fun moment for the whole family.
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