Outdoor cooking ideas for kids

Cooking outside with kids is a fun way to spend more time together as a family and a great way to get kids of all ages enjoying the outdoors. These outdoor cooking ideas are fun for any time of year, let’s face it, food just taste better outdoors, right? Cooking outside can happen in any season, we love making the campfire bread to celebrate bonfire night as well as cooking outside during the summer as a fun outdoors Summer activity! Outdoors cooking is something that every kid should try so we’ve included some kids campfire cooking ideas, plus cooking outside means you don’t have to worry about the mess! We’ve also found outdoor summer cooking ideas for kids makes a great garden activity for a kid’s summer party!

Outdoor Cooking ideas for kids 

Easy things to cook on a campfire with kids 

Try these outdoor cooking ideas on your next camping trip too! One of the best things about camping is that everyday activities become a fun adventure – outdoors cooking is definitely one of these! Here are some fun camping recipes you should test out next time you go camping! 

Camping Bread

If you’re new to outdoor cooking and want to try something super simple, this camping bread recipe is perfect for outdoor adventure beginners! Cooking your own bread on a stick over a campfire is so much fun. There’s nothing like enjoying freshly baked bread in the great outdoors. Cooking campfire bread outside is an outdoor cooking activity that kids can do almost by themselves (with supervision for fire safety of course!)

You will need to start this ahead of time, because the day will need a little time to rise. You can always make the dough first, leave it to rise while you’re setting up your fire. Ideally you want to fire that is just settling down so that you can cook the bread over the embers and it’s less likely to burn. The mix is really easy, just combine flour, yeast, sugar, water, oil and salt. Just mix it together, give it a little need and then leave to rise for around 40 min. 

Campfire Bread Recipe

• 300g (2 cups) self raising flour
• 240ml (1 cup) milk (or enough to bind into dough)
• ½ tsp salt
• 75g (2 tbsp) butter (optional)
• 1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
• flavourings of your choice – herbs, spices, cheese etc (optional)
• Small satchet of yeast

Make sure you have your camping bread sticks at the ready. Choose long sticks from non-poisonous trees, it’s a good idea to sterilise the top part of the stick in a flame before you had your bread. Freshly cut greenwood with sticks work really well because if the stick is wet it will smoke. Another good idea is to strip your stick of any bark. If your kids are old enough to use a pen knife they’ll love this job to practice their whittling skills!! 

Once your dough is ready divide it into eight balls and take each ball and roll it into a long strip which you wrap round your stick. You’re ready now to get cooking!

If you’re off on a camping trip, then you’ll love our camping recipe ideas for large groups or families. There’s so many tasty camping dishes to try! 

Outdoor Pizzas with Pizza Oven 

You honestly don’t know how good pizzas can taste until you’ve had a freshly baked pizza from an outdoor pizza oven! We use our outdoor pizza oven all the time, it is particularly good for having friends over and parties because the pizzas cook in a couple of minutes! Pizzas are perfect for kids outdoor cooking because they’re fun with lots of preparation jobs for kids like making the dough and choosing their own toppings! Our kids love chicken, pesto and pineapple!! What’s your kids favourite pizza topping? 

We have the Gozney Rocc Box pizza oven and we love it! It gets a lot of use and we’ve found it a great statement piece for your garden! It’s easy to use and heats up quickly. However, you can also build your own pizza oven. Find out how here! 

Chocolate Banana Boats 

This is a girl guides and scouting classic! I’ve got lots of fun memories of making chocolate banana boats with my guide group when I was a kid. First, take a banana and slice of pockets into the middle of it. Add some cubes of chocolate or a few rolos on the banana pocket. Wrap your banana loosely in tinfoil, and place in the embers of a campfire to cook. Leave for about 10 minutes until the banana is warm and toasted and the chocolate has melted, enjoy your delicious chocolate tea camping treat.

Kid friendly campfire dinner

Kelly Kettle Bacon Sandwiches and Hot Chocolate

One of our favourite things to do which turns a simple walk into an outdoor adventure for kids is to take our Kelly kettle and use it to cook bacon sandwiches and make some yummy hot chocolate! We love our Kelly kettle as it packs up small and is easy to light in any weather. Cooking tea on our kelly kettle is a perfect way to end an adventure or a day of exploring or best of all – a day at the beach! You can buy a Kelly Kettle here.

Dinner in a Tin Can 

Dinner in a tin can is an easy peasy way to cook your whole dinner outside that kids will love! Kids can get really involved in the prep for this meal and it’s an easy recipe for kids of all ages to make. Kids love this activity and it’s just as much fun in your back garden as in a campsite! To cook your onepot dinner in a tin can – first wash and clean a tin can. Try to use the tin cans that have a ring pull, so that you can push the tin can lid back down on top of the can to cook.

For your campfire dinner in a tin can, you will need these ingredients per tin can………

• One Hamburger
• Potato — 4 good chunks
• Carrot — 3 good chunks
• Onion — 1 slice
• Tomato — 2 slices
• Sweetcorn
• Butter or oil
• Salt and pepper — to taste

Season your potatoes if you wish and spread them with a thin layer of butter or oil. Layer the ingredients into your tin can, layered as they are listed, starting wth the hamburger. Cover the can tightly with aluminum foil and place into your campfire and let it cook for about 30-45 minutes. Placing in into the hot embers is better than into direct flames. To check if your tin can dinner is done – pop a fork into your potato to make sure it’s soft. If the potato is cooked – everything should be cooked. Carefully lift your can off the fire with tongs and tuck in!

Fire pits can make cooking with kids outside easy – they’re a manageable size to create a fire and allow a fire to light and burn quickly. Fire pits bring a social experience to cooking outdoors with kids – every one loves huddling around it and nattering away the evening. … Anything you can cook on a grill can be cooked on a fire pit and they’re much quicker to light compared to a BBQ.

The Best S’mores for cooking with kids

This wouldn’t be a post about outdoor cooking with kids without mentioning s’mores. S’mores are the ultimate outdoor cooking camping classic! Our favourite and easiest way to make s’mores is by using Bahlsen Choco Leibniz Milk Chocolate biscuits. They have chocolate on the inside and so are perfect for adding toasted marshmallows for the easiest chocolate s’more! But for an alternative idea to the classic s’mores – try these adventurous ideas for s’mores! 

Try adding sliced strawberries or peaches to your s’mores.

A layer of peanut butter on your biscuit turns the humble s’more into into a nutty dessert.

Try using Nutella or rolos for added caramel flavour! 

For the grown-ups in the house try dipping your marshmallows in Baileys for an alcoholic s’mores treat! 

How to toast marshmallows with kids

We couldn’t talk about outdoors cooking and not discuss marshmallow toasting! Toasting marshmallows a classic outdoor activity for kids, a must do activity in childhood! We find these marshmallow extendable sticks perfect for toasting marshmallows with kids! They prevent burns and pack up nice and small to take camping.

Forest School outdoor cooking ideas for kids

If you’re looking for fun, easy and innovative forest school outdoor cooking ideas- we have some great ideas for you to try below! 

Our friend over at Happy wild ones is always coming up with amazing tasty treats better fun to cook outside with kids. Try these Elderflower Fritters if elderflower is in season. Forage for elderflowers and then make a batter by combining 120g of flour With half a spoon full of baking powder and 2 teaspoons of icing sugar. 

Heat some oil in a pan and carefully dip the elderflower heads into the batter. Leave the stalks on the elderflower so you can easily transfer them into the hot oil to fry. Sprinkle with icing sugar before tucking in this makes a great snack or breakfast treat!

Hazel Leaf Chocolate Parcels

No need for baking trays in this brilliant outdoor cooking experiment! Make your usual chocolate cake recipe mix and add a spoonful into a large Hazel leaf. Fold your leaf into a parcel (lovely activity for little fingers) and fry in some hot oil. 

Hope we haven’t made you too hungry! But hope we’ve given you some inspiration for how to begin cooking outside with kids. You can check out some of our other recipes like our carrot and courgette muffins Or our Apple and Blackberry ice lollies.

More outdoor activities for kids

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NB: Some of these products were gifted for review but all opinions are my own (or my kids!).