Kids love to create, and so by extension they love to cook. Cooking is both science and magic, producing edible wonders. Cooking for kids should be age-appropriate and easy to do. Here are some of the best kid’s cookbooks for sharing fun time in the kitchen with your brood.

Best All-Purpose Cookbooks

The Everything Kid’s Cookbook: From Mac’n Cheese to Double Chocolate Chip Cookies-All You Need to Have Some Finger Lickin’ Fun, by Sandra K. Nissenberg. This cookbook is packed with easy recipes of every kind, from snack and appetizers to main courses and desserts, as well as fun activities like puzzles, cooking tips, and even trivia. The language is very simple and direct, and is ideal for younger children. The recipes are generally healthy and low-fat, with nutrition facts and calorie counts for each one.

Mom and Me Cookbook, by Annabel Karmel. Ms. Karmel is a professional chef trained at the Cordon Bleu, which means she knows her food. This cookbook has lots of helpful cooking advice that even moms can learn from, and the recipes are great for moms and kids to do together. This is a smaller cookbook and isn’t for really varying a family’s mealtime, but is instead a way for parents and kids to work together in the kitchen and teach the child basic skills.

Best Organic/Natural/Vegan Cookbooks

Family Organic Cookbook, by Carol Charlton. This book has lots of kid-friendly recipes that can be made with completely organic and all-natural products. Many interesting recipes for things like ketchup, jelly, breads and pastas.

Kids Can Cook: Vegetarian Recipes Kitchen-Tested by Kids for Kids, by Dorothy Bates. This is a great, versatile cookbook packed with lots of great vegetarian recipes. The recipes can be rendered vegan in most cases by substituting any dairy products for soy ones, and the variety is great. Although there are no pictures of the actual dishes, user reviews were very positive, and rated it as simple enough to enable a 6 year old to learn how to cook healthy, vegetarian fare.

Just Plain Fun!

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes, by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. Every child’s reading list should include this author’s classic, hilarious, odd books, and this cookbook brings the fun to the kitchen, Roald Dahl style. The recipes, true to the book’s name, are truly revolting, but they are really just funny variations of standard recipes: “stink bug eggs” are deviled eggs, colored with food coloring and parmesan cheese added to make them…stinkier. There is a newer version available, too, entitled Roald Dahl’s Even More Revolting Recipes. Although Mr. Dahl has passed on, his recipes live on, and they are a blast to make, and eat, with your child.

Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual, by Klutz Publishers. This small volume has lots of kid-friendly recipes clearly laid out, and the whole book is printed on glossy, easy-to-clean pages, and even comes with a set of plastic measuring spoons.