Why You Should be Baking with Your Kids

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Hey you,

Thanks for stopping by. I know you’re super busy so we’ll make this quick.

Can you relate to this?

You’ve got a day at home with the kids, you’re grateful for this, but exhausted at the same time. You’re too tired to plan anything but neither do you want everyone dumped in front of the TV. You’re living in the tension of wanting to do something meaningful whilst also needing to rest yourself.

Have you ever had a day like this?

Yeah, me too!

This article will outline the ‘Whys’ behind why you should be finding that little bit of extra energy to get baking with your kids – the perfect at home learning activity. I’m hoping this will give you the pat on the back / fist pump / motivation you need.

Here for you,

Baking with Kids – The 7 Whys

Here are my ‘magic 7’ as to why you should be baking with your kids:

1. Quality Time
2. Personal, social & emotional development
3. Development of concentration & following instructions
4. Fine motor development
5. Gross motor development
6. Creative expression
7. Mathematical understanding

If that’s all the motivation you need, great, check your cupboard and see what you have in the house to get on with it.

If you’ve got time to keep reading:

• scroll down to find more detailed explanations against each ‘why’
• check out a simple shortbread recipe
• find out how to turn shortbread into ‘wow’bread

Baking with Kids – A Very Easy Shortbread Recipe

Need some cooking inspiration? Check out this shortbread recipe. I’m no baker (I’m a decorator) but I was able to navigate my way through this recipe with no problems.

You only need 3 ingredients:

• plain flour
• butter
• caster sugar

My Top Tips

• I tripled the ingredients as we were baking for friends and wanted to make each biscuit large enough for decorating.
• I didn’t following the rolling out instructions, instead I kept the dough the thickness I wanted each biscuit post baking (they won’t rise).
• Keep an eye on the biscuits when they are in the oven, they quickly turn from being ‘not quite done’ to being ‘over done’.

Baking your Kids will LOVE!

Turning Your Shortbread into ‘Wow’bread!

What you need to make ‘Wow’bread:

• Batch of cooled shortbread (use this recipe)
• Powered sugar
• Warm water
• Food colouring (I prefer gel food colouring)
• Variety of sprinkles
• Variety of sweets (optional)
• Edible glitter (optional)

We wanted to bless our friends on Valentines Day 2021 – Lockdown Valentines! Everyone was feeling a bit flat and there wasn’t much to do. So, we decided to make Valentines 2021 extra special.

How to Decorate ‘Wow’bread:

1. Mix up the powered icing & warm water (using the packet instructions).
2. Separate the icing into separate bowls.
3. Mix into each bowl the gel food colours that your kids choose.
4. Using the back of a spoon spread the icing onto a shortbread biscuit (do one at a time).
5. Go crazy with decorations – let your kids be as expressive as they like with this part.
6. Leave to harden completely so that the decorations don’t get spoilt.
7. When ready wrap your wowbread in clingfilm and enjoy delivering to friends and family.

The Magic 7 – Why You Should be Baking with Your Kids at Home

Let’s dive into each ‘why’ separately.

1) Quality Time

Don’t ever underestimate the power of quality time with your child! You taking a bit of time out to do something with your child that they love will speak a thousand words. Think about how special you feel when a friend asks to do something with you. Supporting our children with developing a sense of belonging and love is fundamental to their success in life. For more info on this take a look at my post where I discuss Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

2) Personal, Social & Emotional Development

Turn taking, listening to others, patience and reliance are vital skills for being able to operate well socially and emotionally. Cooking is a fun, practical way to learn these skills.

3) Development of Concentration & Following Instructions

Cooking is a great activity for developing concentration skills, which are essential for school readiness! Concentration is more easily developed when a child is taking part in an activity which they enjoy. My daughter is a massive foodie so cooking is ideal for her. My son, on the other hand, isn’t that interested in cooking, so activity like this does not support the development of his concentration. Think about activities that your child will enjoy in order to develop this skill.

If a child is able to follow simple instructions they will be well prepared for starting school. Following instructions often comes down to understanding the language that is being used. Increasingly there are more children starting school with under developed language skills, which has detrimental effects on their education. Taking part in practical activities, such as cooking, is a really simple way to develop language. When a child is able to understand and follow instructions they are given a massive head start.

4) Fine Motor Development

Squeezing, pushing, folding, breaking, picking, placing, twisting, all the ‘…ings’ help with developing those tiny little muscles in our children’s hands and wrists that we didn’t even realise excited. The strength of those tiny muscles enable our children to hold a pencil, to do up buttons and manipulate objects.

Children with underdeveloped fine motor strength really do struggle when starting school and often have to take part in fine motor intervention groups. Good fine motor strength will enable your child to be more independent which will have an impact on their confidence and self-esteem.

5) Gross Motor Development

More ‘…ings’, mixing, rolling, pushing, patting, carrying, all develop the big muscles in our children’s arms, shoulders and backs. Did you know that a child needs strength in all of these muscle groups including their wrists, hands and fingers in order to manipulate a pencil to write?

6) Creative Expression

Supporting your child with their creative expression also aids them with developing their own ideas and theories, problem solving, independence, critical thinking and self expression. It is really important (when developing creative expression) that your child is able to make their own choices. Following a ‘this is one I did earlier’ will not allow for this. Creative expression needs to allow for experimentation. This can be hard as it means that things won’t always look pretty. Try to remember the learning processes over the visual outcomes.

7) Mathematical Understanding

Weighing, measuring and counting are just some of the maths skills your child will develop by cooking with you. Children at this age also need to develop the language of comparison; understanding heavier and lighter, in addition to knowing which container has a larger / smaller capacity. The only way to teach this language and skills is through practical activities. So, the best place to learn this type of maths is at home.