Baking with children can be a lot of fun, but it can also be hard work! It takes a lot of patience but it can be so worth it when you’re enjoying your time and making memories with your little ones! Here are some of my top tips to keep your baking session fun, memorable and stress-free!
Tip 1: Be Organised
Children get distracted very easily, and often don’t have a very long attention span. Help baking move along and keep the fun going by having all of the ingredients out and ready before you get started. I find that if your child has to wait for you to root around in your cupboards for another bag of flour, they get bored, start messing with things and can interrupt the fun.
Tip 2: Aprons!
Kids can be messy- we know that! Get them a wonderful apron to protect their clothes, and with any luck, you won’t have to get them changed after baking! Not only that, but getting an apron out of the cupboard to put on at the start of a baking session can build the excitement and get them in the right mood to do some baking.
Tip 3: Use a bigger bowl!
My biggest tip to contain the messes that come with baking with kids, is to use a bigger bowl than you think you’ll need! Kids are still developing their fine motor skills, and mixing doesn’t always go to plan. To save your ingredients and your kitchen, use a bigger bowl. It will help to keep your ingredients inside the bowl, leading to a more successful bake.
Tip 4: Eggs
When you’re cracking eggs, crack them into a jug instead of straight into the bowl. Let your children practice cracking the eggs and be patient. If you crack the eggs into a jug, any pieces of shell that might end up in the egg are much easier to pick out!
Tip 5 – Make it a learning opportunity!
Baking is fun! Kids love an excuse to get messy, and they love doing activities with their grown-ups. But fun activities can still be an opportunity for learning and helping to grow their minds.
Practice maths – let your children weigh ingredients and measure in grams. Estimate how many tablespoons you will need to get to your total grams.
Talk about the science in baking – what does yeast do? How does it work? What does baking powder do? What happens when bicarbonate of soda and vinegar mix?
You could even practice some art with some colour mixing, if you buy red, yellow and blue food colouring, how can you make orange, purple, green?
There is so much learning to be done when you’re baking!
Tip 6: Plan Ahead
Baking with kids will take a lot longer than you might anticipate. Don’t plan a baking session with your little one on a day when you have plans afterwards. Nothing takes the fun out of baking more than stressing about running late!
On your baking day, keep your whole day or whole afternoon free so that you can relax and enjoy your time baking with your little one!
Tip 7: Have fun!
The most important thing to remember when baking with your children: Baking is fun. Relax and enjoy making memories with your child!
Don’t worry about the mess, don’t worry if there’s flour all over the floor and icing all over their faces – the clean up can be done afterwards. Why not get your child to help with the clean up too? Just be in the moment and enjoy yourself. Be silly, be creative, and don’t worry too much about making things perfect. Your child won’t remember the way your biscuits looked or tasted when they grow up, but they will remember how much fun you had making them!
This week’s blog was written by our Classroom Kitchen Teacher… Miss Gilby!
You can find out more about our Classroom Kitchen Team member… here!
Miss Gilby even has her own baking business – https://www.beckysbespokebakes.co.uk/. Check out some of her fantastic cakes and bakes.
