Before they cook, anchor the stove with rocks or tent stakes, or stabilize the fire grate on green logs rather than slick rocks. Older kids can handle seasoned one-pot rice dishes or pasta and sauce deals. Tiny pancakes and filled tortillas are easy to prepare. Roasted chestnuts or potatoes pulled from the ashes are winners. Mash wild berries onto unleavened dough baked on a flat rock.
Kids love the idea that the earth provides.
Gather berries, mushrooms, and a few basic salad plants, and make a leaf tea or two. Once they know four or five safe edibles, let their gathering be a trip staple. Leave whole meals to the kids. If you aren't, you didn't paddle far enough. Kids will want a paleolithic home fashioned by their own hands, an ancient act not to be confused with urban tree houses.