The kitchen is a great place to bond with your children. Most children love to create things, but especially to experiment in the kitchen. Kids get so excited about the cooking experience and letting them to help prepare easy meals in the kitchen, is a great way to make precious memories. Not only does it cut down on the parents chores list, but also helps the kids to learn the basics of nutrition and cooking. Parents should consider cooking and baking with their children as a way of spending quality time with them.

Cooking is a valuable life skill that helps kids to develop their freedom even as they grow older.

But, as much as cooking can be a fun activity for the kids, it is not always easy and sometimes it can be a whole lot of mess. However, parents can encourage their kids by allowing them to help bake cakes and other simple cooking. For instance, you can pick out a simple recipe to get them started. It is important to keep an eye on them since children nowadays have a short attention span.

When kids get involved in the kitchen, they develop confidence and realize that they can also contribute to something the whole family can enjoy. This is a great way to bring the whole family closer together and spend quality time. Also, cooking is an educational experience for children.
Kids get to learn about measurements while the parents show them how to cook and bake. They also learn to be organized and practice patience until a task is completed.

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to start small when cooking with kids. Kids love to help make cakes, cookies and easy meals so these are good choices to start with. However, it’s dangerous to expose the children to the open fire so parents should opt for something that does not require fire at all, but fun to do just the same. Here’s a simple no bake recipe to get the kids started on the road to opening their own bakery.

No-Bake Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Oatmeal Cookies

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
 Cool Time: 30 minutes
 Ready time: 40 minutes
 Servings: 2 to 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
 1/2 cup butter
 1/2 cup peanut butter
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 1/2 cup milk
 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
 2 cups granulated sugar
 3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions
 1. Add butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder to a 4 quart saucepan.
 2. Bring the mixture to a steady boil and heat for about 1 minute.
 3. Remove from heat.
 4. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth, and then mix in the oats.
 5. Drop by mounding tablespoons onto the wax paper lined baking sheets.
 6. Let cool until set. Serve.

Aside from being fast, easy, safe and fun to make, this recipe is also healthy for kids.

Finally, it is important to teach the child that cleaning up after cooking is all part of the process.
Regardless of how old the child is, parents should make sure the kids understand how to be safe around the kitchen. This is the only way to create a successful kitchen time for the kids.

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entrepremom (107 Posts)

1 Comment on Guest Post: Cooking and Baking With Kids

1. 

   Reima

   August 3, 2012 at 10:01 pm (292 days ago)

   Our son’s always excited about baking but mostly he wants to “clean” the bowls after all But he also enjoys mixing and measuring all things into the bowls. As Maya wrote it is good for understanding measurements what is all in those e.g. cookies

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