Are you someone who loves to bake with kid's?
I absolutely love baking, especially with my grandsons, our mini bosses. I get great satisfaction from baking something up from scratch. Not to mention the memory making, fun and quality time we have together whilst baking.
Benefits Of Baking With Kid's
Whether your baking up some chocolate brownies, making cookies or even cupcakes, baking has so many benefits that go way beyond the goodies themselves. Understanding the benefits make the goodies taste even better.
I have always been a great believer in learning through age appropriate play, and learning being made as fun as possible. You certainly can't get more fun than baking up some tasty treats now can you!
Here are a few benefits of baking with kid's
Sense of achievement
Baking can give a real sense of achievement. Setting out to do a task which then goes on to produce a product. Not only that, but a product that they can enjoy with others by sharing out, and feeling really happy and proud that it is something they had made themselves. Such a magical feeling for a child which leads to a massive confidence boost for them.
Look at mini boss Zayden's proud smile after decorating his biscuit.
Math's
When baking math's can be taught by using the hands-on approach. This can be done in many different way's depending on the child's age. With our mini bosses only being young math's was taught by counting out biscuits, counting ingredients, adding up how many more are needed, dividing ingredients to make more, discussing what measurements are bigger, and so many more fun ways of learning math's.
Science
When baking you don't have to look far to find science. Dylan absolutely loves science experiments at the moment, so he really enjoyed learning some science whilst baking. We chatted about the different ingredients and how they all work differently. His favourite was the raising agent (bicarbonate of soda). He loved learning how it reacts differently with other ingredients, such as milk, where it triggers a reaction to make the dough rise.
Reading
Not all children are ones to sit quietly and read, but are more than happy to read in a more hands-on way, such as reading recipes. Reading then becomes a pleasure for them as it is helping them to reach a goal.
Whilst reading a recipe they are also retaining the information, reading out load, sharing information they have just read, all whilst following instructions and having fun in the process.
Social and communication skills
Discussions about what you are doing, listening to instructions, even discuss what you have done so far and what needs to be done next. We always try to and get Dylan to tell us in his own words what he has done so far and what is next to do. We chat about temperatures, ingredients, texture and equipment.
Motor skills
Baking offers so many opportunities for children to strengthen their fine motor skills. Such as pouring liquids requires hand-eye coordination, kneading dough, whipping, creaming and rubbing in requires so many movements, and uses and strengthens so many muscles.
Healthier
Homemade is always the better option, as you get to monitor what you are all eating, as well as make healthier choices. You get to reduce the amount of sugar used, and control portion size by making smaller cakes and biscuits.
You could also add fruits and vegetables to boost flavour and nutrients, bake using unsaturated fats, and you could also use water based icing. Whilst doing so your children could learn about healthier options.
Results
In our house cooking and baking is something we all enjoy doing from scratch. We find any recipe to be a recipe of fun, learning and independence. We love nothing more than flour dusted counter tops and the smell of home baking in the air.
One thing that really does fill our hearts, and that is the massive smile and confidence boost it gives our grandsons when they see their end results. It boost their self-esteem and helps them to feel more confident in their abilities.
Mini boss Dylan proudly waiting for his biscuits to cool down
Patience
Baking with children helps them massively where patience is needed. Baking helps children to learn about focus and attention. Dylan struggled in this area to start off with, but with perseverance he now understands the importance to listen and follow each step carefully, following the recipe step-by-step.
Dylan now understands that patience is key to baking and he can't just rush ahead. He now knows he has to pay attention to measuring, counting and the time needed of when to add certain ingredients.
Enjoyment
Baking offers each child an individual and unique experience perfectly suited to each individual child. It is such a fun hands-on activity, that not only delights their senses, but is full of developmental benefits and experiences.
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