A Guide to Baking with Little Ones
Here are 5 strategies to help families get started.
“Prends la spatule” I like to tell my daughter before we start baking. She goes to the drawer and grabs the spatula and we get started. Baking has become such a beloved pastime in our day-to-day life, that we’ve crossed our 100 baked items mark this year!
I love being able to share my passion with my toddler and having her in the kitchen alongside me. I love seeing her eyes light up with joy and curiosity when we bake and try something new. I often get asked by friends and other parents: “How can I involve my child in the kitchen too?”.
My toddler being an active participant during baking did not happen overnight. I have trained her to participate in the kitchen from an early age. I started including her ever since she was born.
As a newborn, I would have her in the baby carrier as I baked in the kitchen and spoke to her about what I was doing. Most of the time she was asleep and I was aimlessly talking to myself, but it was one activity that we could do together, albeit her asleep on my chest.
Now as a toddler, she is almost always with me by my side in the kitchen ready to participate with a spatula and lots of gusto. I’m here to say that it is possible! It is not necessary for you to start at an early age like I did, but it is helpful to have some foundational stepping stones first.
You have to leave all your expectations at the door as baking with children can get creative and messy, but it is so fun and rewarding. By involving them in the kitchen, you are supporting their life-learning skills.
Children learn so many fundamental skills from baking. From fine motor skills like picking up and using kitchen tools with their hands, cognitive skills like following instructions and mathematical skills like number sense, as well as social emotional skills, like listening to others and managing emotions.
Baking is also closely tied to early literacy skills. When you follow a recipe step by step, children are learning about ordering and sorting, which are essential foundational skills for reading.
Here are 5 strategies to help you get started:
- Role modeling
You have to meet children where they are. If they have never baked with you before, you need to explain to them the process of baking. The first thing I would suggest is to show your children the different tools and ingredients that you need. Behavior role modeling is a great way to show children how to do something.
Similar to my students, I role model to my own daughter the behavior or action item that I want her to learn. For example, I explain to her and show her how to use the spatula and how to mix and stir the batter. Then I do it alongside her, and once I see she has the hang of it, I leave her to do it on her own.
I would suggest starting with a plain bowl and spatula first so that your child can practice the motion of mixing on their own. I would do this a lot with my toddler at the beginning, give her empty mixing bowls and have her practice on her own alongside me.
2. Using the five senses
When I bake with my toddler, I talk to her about what I am doing but also stop and show her the different ingredients I use with the five senses. This means really slowing down and letting children examine and learn about the ingredients. I usually do this when a new ingredient is introduced or if I see that she’s curious about an ingredient.
For example with flour: I have her smell it, taste it, and look at it. I’ve also set up learning activities separately where she can experiment and play with it on her own. You can do this simply with a bowl and flour and see what your child does. This supports sensory play. Some ingredients are more limited, like eggs — so I have her watch as I crack them. In the beginning she would want to touch the egg but after some repeated role modeling, she learned to stop and learned that “eggs are for mixing”.
4) Talk, talk, talk!
When I bake with my toddler, I use the different senses for her to explore and learn more about the ingredients, but I also talk and explain to her what I am doing. It is so important to speak to children as you are showing them something new and “broadcast” what you are doing. For example, I would say “Mama is mixing the dough with the spatula” and point to the spatula. This also helps with vocabulary and comprehension skills.
And I cannot stress this enough. Instead of sprinkling effortless praise like “good job”, be specific and say “Penny, I love how you are holding the spatula!” Even if your child is still working on their verbal skills, they can see you and hear you.
Children have different ways of showing they understand you at times with non-verbal communication. My toddler is a fast learner and likes to copy me so I know she understands after watching me do it in practice.
4) Setting up the environment:
Loris Malaguzzi, the visionary and prominent figure in the Reggio Emilia approach, famously said that “the environment becomes the third teacher.”
This means having things that children can reach and use on their own, whether it’s for their own playtime or a baking project with you. It allows them to learn from their environment on their own without having to ask for help from an adult.
In terms of kitchen tools, learning towers are great tools to have in the kitchen. I managed to snag this learning tower that I picked up for free on a whim thanks to a friend and it has really changed how much my toddler can be included in the kitchen. Now she knows how to get on it herself, and move it on her own to the counter.
You can often find these secondhand for a cheaper price. If you don’t have access to a learning tower, you can use a chair as well. I used a chair prior to having a learning tower and although it requires more supervision, it is doable.
She is able to do this because I set up the environment that allows her to do so. I place the mixing bowls at the bottom shelf for her to reach and little kitchen tools for her to use as she wishes. By having these tools available to her, I have created an environment that fosters independence.
5) Connecting baking time with other learning activities
Another thing I like to do is connect our baking time with their prior knowledge or interests. You can have your child explore with the bowls and spatula and see what they do. There was a time when my toddler put some legos in the bowl and started stirring them! The possibilities with their imagination are endless.
It can even be as simple as providing toys or activities that relate to cooking. For example, my daughter is really into her Baby Stella dolly. I have kitchen items for her Stella that my toddler can use and explore in her baby play area. I love seeing her “bake” and feed her Stella doll!
Another way is through visuals. I took photos of my daughter baking and placed them in the kitchen for her to see herself using the tools. For older little ones, you can label the name and a picture of the kitchen item so children learn to associate the picture with the word. This is great for fostering early literacy skills as well.
Respecting boundaries
Not all baking times will go smoothly, trust me. Sometimes I notice that my daughter is not listening and just wants to do whatever she wants by not respecting my words or respecting the kitchen items and tools. So I remind her that if she wants to bake with me, she needs to listen and behave.
If I notice that isn’t the case, I move her away from the area and redirect her to something else. I want her to learn that it’s important to listen and follow the rules and if she doesn’t, she won’t be able to bake. A wise college professor once told me “It’s our job as parents to set the limits, and a child’s job to break them.” So if my toddler wants to throw things, I redirect her to things that she can throw, and invite her back to baking when she is ready.
In addition, sometimes I just want to bake by myself as a way to relieve stress. That’s okay. Not every baking adventure needs to be child related. I just let my daughter know that by saying, “This is Mama’s baking time now. We will bake together another day ”, so she understands. I treat my daughter with respect, which means explaining and talking to her just like I would do to anyone else.
With that said, it may be difficult to get started, but keep trying and meet where your child is at. It’s about observing and getting to know your child as well as learning and growing together. It’s about trial and error, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and working with what you have.
Having your child participate in the kitchen can be as simple as them playing pretend with a bowl and spatula next to you while you bake or help you set the table. You can start off with baby steps, and then move up to baking something together.
And if you feel like you are trying but your child is just not interested in baking, I would give it some time. You can always try again in a few days or weeks. Remember, it’s not about you, but what your child and their big idea is at the present moment.
Stay tuned for my next article on sharing a family recipe with step-by-step instructions that you can try to make at home with your little ones!
