Baking Is Learning

I really hate cooking and baking, but I know how important these life skills are and so if I must, I will teach my daughters. The teacher in me also knows how following a recipe is a great activity to build reading and math skills.

Today, with three of our friends, we baked cookies and made a cookie cake from scratch. All the kids took turns adding the ingredients, mixing, etc. I must say it went very smoothly. We discussed prior to baking how everyone needs to stay in their designated spot, wait their turn, and be patient. All the kids were rock star bakers.

We read the ingredients, discussed "packed sugar," the importance of "softened" butter, and followed the step by step instructions. We also discussed how the recipe said to beat the mixture and we were using a hand held mixer...is mixing beating?

We measured with cups and teaspoons and the kids told funny stories of how in previous experiences they put too much and their food was ruined. When the recipe called for 3/4 cup of something we used the 1/4 cup and talked about how we needed to fill it up three times.  We also learned the abbreviation for teaspoon and noticed the difference of size between a tablespoon and teaspoon. (Math is everywhere!)

The kids also laughed, licked spoons, licked spatulas, argued over who could crack eggs better and which would taste better - the cookies or the cake. (They both tasted amazing, for real.)

If you are not comfortable "teaching" your child, cook and/or bake with them. They will learn so much and have a great time.