Parents all know their child’s favorite foods. They also know that it can change in an instant or last for years. Some kids only want mom’s mac and cheese. Others love dad’s burgers. Whatever recipe your kids love, make it into a cooking crossword puzzle! If you already have a cooking crossword in mind, make your puzzle now. For more ideas, keep reading.

Why Make a Cooking Crossword?

Any crossword is fun and informative, but cooking crossword puzzles offer unique benefits. First and foremost, they’re a great way to teach kids essential kitchen skills. These skills may include kitchen safety, simple recipes, how ingredients interact with each other, and more. Start off with a crossword puzzle like the one below. With these basic cooking terms, it’ll be much easier to follow the directions of any recipe!

Crosswords will also help you create memories with your child in the kitchen. Maybe kids have to watch mom or dad make the recipe in order to solve the cooking crossword. Or make clues relating to the songs you sing together in the kitchen. Where can they find their favorite bowl or plate? Add the answer to your crossword. If you make the same meal every Tuesday, such as Taco Tuesday, it can go into the crossword, too. All of this will add to the joy and memory of the kitchen.

Blog Tip: A cooking crossword would also make a great addition to a blog. If you have a food or parenting blog like The Salted Pepper, you may want to share your kid-friendly recipes and cooking tips as a crossword. It’ll make a great addition to the unique recipes you already share by increasing engagement amongst your readers. And when it’s so easy to embed a puzzle, it would take very little time to add a unique and fun cooking crossword puzzle to any post.

Now that you have an idea of why you’d make a cooking crossword puzzle, get ready to choose some words and clues. If you’re making a puzzle about a specific recipe, you might want to choose and make the recipe first. You’ll get ideas for your crossword puzzle, and have a delicious treat to eat while making it!

Choosing Words From Your Recipe

The easiest way to select words for your cooking crossword puzzle is to use the ingredient list. Add every ingredient into your word list before you worry about the clues. This chef did that and paired the answers with intricate clues about ingredients, recipes, and cooking.

Another great way to form a word list for your crossword is to look at the measurements. You might need eggs, but how many? How many cups of water do you need? Similarly, you could use times and other numbers for your answers. Write out the preheating temperature, or the cooking time. This “Using Recipes” crossword puzzle implements a number of these ideas.

Your word list might also include words specific to the recipe, or its importance to your family or readers. Has it been passed down in the family? If so, who first made it? Does your recipe have any secret ingredients? All of these would make good word choices for a cooking crossword puzzle.

Making Clues for Your Cooking Crossword

The crossword puzzles above give great clues you can work from. The following ideas will help you adjust or simplify the clues according to your needs.

Create clues by taking one step from your recipe that contains a word in your answer list. For example, any word could be used as the answer to “Whisk three eggs.” Therefore, if you’ve added the word “eggs” to your word list, write a clue such as, “Whisk three of these.” You can even just leave the word out of the clue to make it read, “Whisk three ___.”

If you’re feeling adventurous and you have the time, you might put your clues in the same order as the steps. That way it’ll read more like the actual recipe. Just remember you’ll have to add words manually to the grid in order to make this work, instead of letting the computer arrange the words for you. It may also take some time to find words that intersect in the right order. However, it will help your solvers fully understand the recipe and remember how to make it again.

 

By making cooking crossword puzzles, you’ll also be making memories. Plus, putting your recipe into a crossword puzzle will ensure its safety for generations, because it’ll always be available at Crossword Hobbyist. Younger kids and others might enjoy a different kind of puzzle at first; introduce them to ingredients and kitchen terms with a cooking word search.