The benefits of baking and cooking for children
Most children love to spend time in the kitchen either cooking or baking. It is a fabulous bonding experience with Mom or another caregiver and they always enjoying eating the results of their hard work afterwards.
I love to bake and both my sons have travelled the cooking, baking and eating road with me. Michael, particularly, loves to cook. He prefers to make more practical things than I do such as savoury and/or sweet pancakes, French toast and even stews and curries which he makes with his Dad. I like to make all sorts of fancy sweet treats and cakes.
I remember baking with my small boys. Gregory used to love to measure and pour the ingredients into the bowl. Funnily enough, Greg also loved to wash up. Sadly, this has not continued into his teenage years. I used to strip him down to his nappy and stand him on a few chairs lined up in front of the sink [so that he could not fall off] and set him free in front of a sink of soapy water. He used to splash around happy with a cloth washing up the bowl and wooden spoon. I kept the washing of any sharp implements and breakables for myself.
Michael, on the other hand, has never been a fan of any kind of cleaning up. He likes to measure, pour and, especially, to mix. He also likes to “lick” out the bowl. I have photographs of Michael covered from head to toe in chocolate cake mix with the bowl upside down on his head. What fabulous fun.
Other than the obvious fun and bonding factors, there are a list of other great benefits to baking with your children. I did some research on this and this is what I found:
- Maths skills: Baking helps children to learn maths concepts, in particular, measurement and simple fractions (half a cup, a quarter of a lemon). In addition, multiplication and division are involved if you half or double a recipe. Other kinds of cooking may also involve patterning (for example with salads and kebabs) and simple addition (how many people are you feeding? how many cupcakes do you need for the class?);
- Art skills: Decorating cupcakes, cutting out biscuits and making animals and people out of fondant (sugar dough). All of these activities encourage creativity and develop design abilities. An element of construction can also be involved if you are making a gingerbread house or a marshmallow tower and children learn how to fit pieces together and get a tower to stand up;
Cupcakes decorated for charity by the children of St Columba’s Presbyterian Church Sunday School – Parkview, South Africa
- Comprehension skills: Baking and cooking teaches children how to read and interpret a recipe. They learn to follow a sequence of steps and how to organise the required ingredients. Baking also teaches children techniques and vocabulary such as folding, beating, kneading and blending;
- Science skills: Contrary to popular belief, baking is a science. Children learn the scientific effects of raising agents such as yeast and baking powder. They learn about the interaction between certain substances such as salt and bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and milk, yeast and warm water. If they make a mistake and/or leave out an ingredient, disaster often follows which helps enforce these learning points;
Giant marshmallow made by Michael – the scientific effects of gelatine
- Life skills: Baking and cooking with your children teaches them lifelong skills. In the future, the job of feeding themselves and their future families will become theirs. Baking and cooking skills will stand them in good stead when they leave home; and
- Self-esteem: Baking and cooking helps increase children’s self-esteem as they see and taste the results of their efforts. It also teaches children to work together with someone else in a team and that hard work pays dividends in the end.
I am not an occupational therapist but I found the following additional benefits listed on an OT website for children:
- Bilateral coordination;
- Eye-hand coordination;
- Hand strengthening; and
- Spatial perception and planning skills.
These four benefits make perfect sense to me in the context of baking and cooking with children.
So, what are you waiting for, get cooking. An easy way to start is with mini pizzas. You can buy the bases ready made from most grocery stores and you can also buy the tomato paste source to spread on the bases. Grate some cheese, cut up some mushrooms, pineapple, ham and anything else that you fancy and let the kids have fun assembling their own pizzas.
Thanks to Robbie Cheadle for this delicious and delightful post. Robbie, you are welcome to share a post any Friday. You can follow Robbie at:
Blogs: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com and Goodreads.com
Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks
Twitter: @bakeandwrite
Reblogged this on Robbie's inspiration and commented:
Michael and I are delighted to see our guest post on the benefits of baking with children on Vicki Goodwin’s blog The Page Turner. Vicki has written some lovely books under the pen name of Sojourner McConnell.
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Thank you for mentioning Sojourner 🙂 I was happy to post here as I am combining the blogs into one. 🙂
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My pleasure, Vicki. Much easier to manage one blog I think.
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Thank you, Vicki. I was so delighted to see this post pop up on The Page Turner.
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So glad I was able to surprise you! 🙂
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I always cooked with my children and now as adults, they are great cooks now I cook with my grandchildren and there is quite a lot children can do and they learn very quickly to have a respect for anything sharp, pointed or hot 🙂
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That is very true, they learn numbers, weights and measures, and good baking habits. I like to stress the clean up as you go method. I hope that sticks. Cooking can be a lot of fun. Thank you for stopping in, especially for taking the time to read and comment!
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I only posted a post on children cooking last week and cleaning was mentioned…lol
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Cooking with children is fun and teaches them something useful. You post some fantastic recipes.
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Fabulous post! I had never thought of all these benefits till you listed them down. I’ll be bringing the kids into the kitchen this weekend 🙂
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Robbie is such an inspiration to parents and grandparents alike! Thank you so much for visiting and especially taking the time to comment. This post actually made me want to cook with my granddaughter this weekend too.
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I am so pleased you enjoyed this post, Somya.
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A wonderful post Robbie. AND more than just fun. It is very informative xx
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Thank you, Shey. Baking is a very useful and fun thing to do with children. Nice for bonding with children and grandchildren too. Have a wonderful Friday.
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You too Robbie x
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Thank you for sharing this post!
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Thank you for sharing. Have a super weekend.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you for sharing this post!
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Thank you so much for sharing, Michael. Happy Friday!
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Hello Robbie, thank you for the wonderful posting. Wish you a great weekend ahead. 😉 Michael
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I did a lot of baking with my kids when they were little. We always made a pretty big mess, but I don’t regret it!
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When we cook here, it can be quite the mess. Lol. But as you said. It is worth it.
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Wish I could go back to those days!
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My kids also make a big mess but teaching them to help clean up is part of the fun.
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I agree that cooking can teach children so many handy lifeskillls. It is a win-win situation as they get to spend time with Mum(or Dad) and sample their delicious efforts too 🙂
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Thank you, Judy. Mine do lots of sampling but they have learned a lot from our baking sessions and Michael now wants to be a chef one day.
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How lovely that Michael wants to be a chef, you have given him a huge advantage by teaching him how to cook 🙂
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Surely, this should be a featured BUN guest post. *hangs head in abject misery*
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Thanks for reading and commenting.
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That put the pun on punny.
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I’m not a cook but I found this post fascinating, Robbie. It’s interesting how our kids differ from each other and then change as they grow to maturity. Thanks for hosting Vicki!
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Thank you, John. I am glad you found this post interesting. Each child you have is so very different, sometimes you wonder how they can have the same parents and upbringing. Bringing out the best in them is lots of fun albeit sometimes challenging.
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Beautiful wisdom here. I am smiling!
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Thank you, Annette. I can only imagine you smiling. Even your voice smiles.
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Wow, so many benefits for learning baking. 🙂 Wonderful!
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Thank you, Amy.
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This is a great post and Robbie has hit everything spot on… Plus in this increasingly isolated and isolationist world there is no substitute for doing stuff together as a family
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That is so true. It strikes a positive cord about family time with me too.
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It’s great to cook and bake with kids. Something I’ve done with baby cousins, nieces and my step kids. And I’ve carried on with the boys into adult hood.
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I can imagine that you are very good with children, Tandy. I am going to host a children’s baking afternoon in September. Lots of fun.
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We have a 13 year old here that loves to cook. He bakes brownies all the time.
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Great post, Vicki. I agree with Robbie. Children learn a lot from baking activities.
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Thank you, Norah! I love sharing amazing posts like these. It gives an author a different scene to share their creations. Norah, consider sharing on here too. I would love it!
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It is so great cooking with kids. They’ve taught us a thing or three.
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You are so right! I have been making kitchen events in the kitchen all weekend.
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Super article, Robbie – and I’m sure I don’t have to tell YOU that each of the advantages of teaching children to cook or bake comes with additional brain-benefits. Another bene I heard mentioned is that picky eaters become less picky if they are involved in the food prep.
I have NO data on this, but I’m guessing that cooking/baking with girls helps them grow up with a healthier attitude toward eating – less likely to fall prey to eating disorders later in life. JUST guessing, however.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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PS. Thanks for hosting Robbie, Vicki. She is one of my favorite bloggers, so it’s a thrill to see her getting around the ‘net.
xx,
mgh
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I love the creativity of Robbie. She is so over the top talented. It is truly my pleasure. I appreciate you visiting my blog to read her post. You’re welcome any time.
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Thank you! One of the great things about hosting another blogger is that you meet friends of theirs that become your friends as well. I never would have met YOU otherwise. 🙂
xx,
mgh
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That is great information. Stimulating a picky eater is s talent into itself.
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Parenting takes a special talent PERIOD – lol. It’s a wonder many of us live to grow up at all. 🙂 Yet so many of us grown up to become delightful human beings – and picky eaters learn to enjoy more than tater tots and fried chicken eventually (even my middle brother Michael, although he never made friends with anything green) 🙂
xx,
mgh
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I agree with you about meeting new friends. I am so glad you come here and we connected. It is great having new voices to read and learn from. It is a wonder indeed. lol 🙂 Sometimes brothers just can’t handle the greens. I was away all day viewing the 100% eclipse! 2 minutes forty seconds and an 11-hour trip back home. Traffic not distance. 🙂
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exhilarating a finicky eater is s gift into itself. 2 minutes forty seconds and an 11-hour stumble back base.
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exhilarating a fussy eater is s endowment into itself. js”>exhilarating a finicky eater is s gift into itself.
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stimulating a finicky eater is s endowment into itself. js”>elating a finicky eater is s endowment into itself.
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I enjoyed this. Thanks.
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I am so glad. I am always thrilled when Robbie Cheadle shares a post. Thsbk you got reading and commenting.
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I absolutely love this post and I love cooking with my littles. My eldest helps me with lunch and dinner almost every single day and we have great fun doing it.
Today though I had an accident in the kitchen and although I was the only one hurt it stands as a reminder to all to be careful and mindful when cooking with kids.
I wrote about today’s kitchen fun and slight injury here:
https://onehundredandonepursuits.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/pancake-art-and-facial-burns/
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