Food is an integral part of Christmas celebrations for many families. In the days leading up to Christmas, chances are, you will be cooking up a storm. Getting your child involved with the cooking can provide him with an opportunity to play a hands-on role in preparing for the holiday celebrations.

Individual Christmas Pizzas

Using store-bought or homemade dough, you can transform everyday pizza into a special Christmas treat. After rolling the dough flat to about 1/8 of an inch on a flour-coated surface, the kids can have fun cutting the dough out into Christmas-themed shapes such as a tree, star or stocking. After the dough is cut out, personalize each pizza with sauce, cheese and other favorite pizza toppings. If you want to get really creative, use kitchen shears to cut out stars and circle shapes from pepperoni, mushrooms and other toppings to make the pizzas extra festive. Then cook the pizza according to the package or recipe.

Christmas Pasta

If you are in need of a quick and easy Christmas recipe the kids can help prepare, cook up some Christmas-themed pasta. While you can make your own green pasta by following a spinach pasta recipe, when cooking with hungry children, using store-bought boxed pasta is quicker. Once the kids — with your assistance and supervision — prepare the pasta as directed, adding tomato sauce or diced, sautéed tomatoes will complete the dish. If the kids want it to snow on their dinner, Parmesan cheese can be sprinkled over the top.

Snowman Pretzels

Dipped pretzels are a popular and tasty treat, so don’t be surprised if your kids go nutty when they get to take part in making their own snowman pretzels. After dipping 2/3 of each pretzel rod in melted, white chocolate, the kids can have a blast decorating their own snowmen. Once the chocolate has hardened onto the rods, adding embellishments like eyes, a nose, hat, scarf and buttons will complete the snowman activity. Your child can use cut up bits of gummy candies and a gumdrop to create the hat, orange decorating icing for the nose and mini chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons. Dressing the snowman with a scarf can be done by using thin strips of fruit leather and wrapping it around the pretzel rod.