Baking With Kids: Make Baking Fun Again with Kids

Baking with kids can be challenging. The kitchen is usually the birthplace of many good memories one can create with family. As adults, we can relate to having good memories of our parents or grandparents cooking and baking in the kitchen. If you are wondering if you should start baking with your children, this article explores the benefits and tips to use when baking with children. The Sweet Benefits of Baking with Kids Baking with your children provides more advantages than just enjoying the finished products of your labour. Introducing a new activity that encourages the child’s involvement is good for their growth and mental health. Here are a few benefits that children can gain from baking with their parents. Develop Motor Skills Baking with kids can help young children to develop their motor skills. Activities like mixing flour, cutting shapes or rolling out dough are good ways to develop a child’s finger, hand and arm muscles. Improve Reading, Maths and Science Skills Baking requires children to read recipes, calculate measurements and learn about how ingredients mix and react to each other. It’s a fun way to learn about basic chemistry, and mathematics and improve their reading ability. Gaining a New Hobby Baking can be therapeutic and an outlet to release stress. It can also provide a sense of accomplishment to the child when they manage to get a recipe right. Having a hobby is good for children as it can help them to manage anxiety and stress better. Healthier Option Teaching your child how to bake their favourite goodies at home is a smart way to eat healthier. You can control the amount of sugar in the recipe and even opt to use healthier and natural ingredients. It benefits the whole family! 10 Helpful Baking with Kids Tips to Make Happy Memories in the Kitchen It’s all right if you don’t know much about baking, you can take this journey together with your child and learn new things together. It’s important to not feel discouraged if you fail in the beginning, perseverance is key. It takes time, effort and dedication to master baking. Try to not stress out on the results and enjoy the process with your child. We have compiled 10 baking tips to help you make this an enjoyable experience. Follow the Recipe Follow every instruction on the recipe, even the simple recipes. It’s important to teach the child that every instruction is there for a reason and they should follow through. Deviating from the recipe can drastically alter the results and you may not get tasty goods to enjoy. Choosing the Recipe There are so many baking recipes and the constant favourites are usually chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake. Involve your child when trying to pick a recipe, you can encourage them to read and choose something they want to try. This can help them feel more dedicated to completing the recipe. Kitchen Habits Image credit: Canva Model good and clean kitchen habits for children to follow. Show them the importance of keeping utensils clean, using kitchen clothes and constants cleaning the area where food is prepared. Be Patient Image credit: Canva Baking requires patience as it’s not the same sort of activity as cooking. This is a good way to lead by example and teach your child the benefits of being patient. Use baking as a teaching experience to show good things come to those who wait. Perfection is Overrated Don’t expect your baked goods to turn out exactly like the pictures in the recipe book. It’s okay for your cookies, cakes or pastries to turn out the way they are, it doesn’t mean that they don’t taste good. Take pride in your creation and encourage your child to feel accomplished with their efforts. It’s Fine to Make a Mess Image credit: Timeout.com Baking is messy so embrace the mess. Be prepared to do extensive clean-ups after baking, it’s just part of the process. Don’t negatively think of the mess, instead make the clean-up fun with games or sing-alongs. The kitchen might be extra messy during holiday baking but it’s well worth the experience and delicious baked goods. Share Stories Image credit: Canva Time in the kitchen needs to be memorable and it’s a good chance for you to have meaningful conversations with the child. Share experiences, and stories or discuss topics during baking time. This can also create a safe space for the child to feel comfortable to speak about their life. Delegate Age-Appropriate Tasks The child needs to help with the baking so parents need to figure out what tasks are safe to be delegated to the young hands. Easy tasks that are safe like handling ingredients, measuring, moulding dough or decorating are tasks that the child can help with. Safe Workspace Construct a safe workspace in the kitchen for the child. It’s best to remove all potentially dangerous objects when the child is helping you to bake. Handling hot appliances or tools should not be delegated to children. Parents should also always be in the kitchen during baking time. Share the Goods Teach children the joy of sharing by gifting the fruits of your labour to friends and neighbours. Sharing the efforts from baking will help their child to grow in confidence and be encouraged to try new recipes. The act of sharing is a good value to encourage in a child and it helps to discourage the child from being greedy. Celebrating the Joy of Baking with Your Children Parents who put in the time, effort and money to start baking with their children will find that baking can be an enjoyable and beneficial activity for the whole family. It’s a great way to bond with your children while teaching them important life skills like like creative expression, patience and of course, baking! Go ahead and take the plunge to invest some of your family time to start baking together. Enjoy spending quality time together with each other while rewarding yourself with delicious savoury and sweet treats. For more insightful stories and fun recipes, stay tuned to Motherhood Story!

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