I get asked all the time about baking with children, some people think I’m crazy embracing the mess some people think it’s brilliant to teach them that skill.
The reason why we bake together every single Saturday is because it was what I used to do with my nanna when I was a child we would bake every weekend.
It’s not just a life skill to teach our children it is a way to bond it’s a way to talk about the week and what’s happened at school and stuff, it’s also very educational.
Weighing out ingredients - This is mathematical, it enables intellectual development and thinking about how much of everything you need.
Mixing the ingredients - this is quite scientific because if you do not follow the process correctly it is not going to work and if it doesn’t work how can you rectify it? For example; if you’re making biscuits and your dough is very sticky how can we make a solution? We think about it we discuss it and through trial and error we know to add more flour and knead the dough!
Baking - this is a test of patience, waiting for something to bake, desperately wanting to eat it or decorate it then eat it. What we do while we are baking is to tidy up clean everything up put everything back away by the time that’s done your bake is almost done.
for us baking is so much more than just making sweet treats (we do occasionally make savoury too) it’s our time to connect with each other and learn a new skill by making something totally new.
With Little I started baking with him when he was about nine months old and he’s done it every single week since. Titch he’s only baked twice so far and he’s 17 months old he’s just not quite ready or interested in it yet. Sometimes he will stand in the toddler tower watching sometimes he’ll be in his highchair banging a spoon in a bowl getting familiar with the tools.
Here are my top tips for baking with young children:
Pre-weigh your ingredients!
Start with easy bakes.
Let them get familiar with the tools let them touch and explore the bowls(use plastic ones to start with) wooden spoons, baking tins etc!
add a little extra in your ingredients in case of spillages.
it’s going to get messy embrace it or set it up in a tuff tray.
Let them be involved and use the right terminology so that they can understand it later.
Have a book ready for when the oven is busy baking.
Don’t expect toddlers to want clean up, but always ask if they want to help.
When they are older you can introduce weighing.
finally don’t expect it to look pretty, it’s gonna taste amazing though!!
Have fun baking tag us in your bakes and if you like this like share and comment take care.
Comments