Baking with preschoolers. Any suggestions please?

Question

All useful suggestions for experimenting welcomed :)

Answer 1

Keep it simple make biscuits or sweets they get bored quick so make sure they each have a job.

Answer 2

That's really sick.

Answer 3

I make visual recipe cards by using actual photos of the things they need such as a bag of flour, margarine, spoon, glass bowl etc and measure using cups rather than scales.

Let them do it themselves. Interfere as little as possible. You'll be amazed at how much they can do independently. What's the worst that can happen? Children get a real buzz from being able to do things themselves. Try it, stay calm and let them have fun. They'll enjoy doing basic cakes, biscuits etc.

Answer 4

We cook every Monday. One week we cut out sugar cookies and decorated them the next day with icing and sprinkles. One child is allergic to eggs so he made his cookie for his brother and took it home in a baggie. Another day we made a trail mix so no baking but the children got to mix and put a scoop into their own baggie. Today each child poured juice into a cup and added a stick then we froze them We will have juice pops for snack tomorrow. I had two children that had never poured from a small pitcher before.  Next week we will cook green eggs and ham. The children will help scramble the eggs and watch how it cooks on the griddle.

We have nineteen children so many of the activities we do in groups of four or five. It allows each child to participate and the teacher to have better control. Of course they wash their hands before and after.

As an extra art project you could have the children decorate their own cooking apron with paints for clothing. It is something they can keep at the end of the school year too.

Children enjoy even the simplest food preparation activity. Just have fun and talk about measuring and even spills.

Answer 5

First off lots of aprons and cloths at the ready.

Those cartoon character packet mixes for buns and such are always good, nice and easy to do.

Also the good old classic of chocolate rice crispie cakes is always good.

You could bake or buy a plain sponge then let them loose with the icings and toppings.

Answer 6

not quite baking but try this..........

A pack of plain biscuits

and a box of writing icing

let the kids decorate the biscuits.  They can spend 10 -15 minutes on this activity and the prep and tidy up time is done in minutes.

its similar to baking in the sense that they have made it themselves and can eat it!!!

Another easy one to try is baking bread....

Buy ready made bread mix that only needs water adding,

after turns a mixing, you can break it into small child sized pieces each child can knead their own piece, the smaller pieces also reduces the rising time needed so can be made fairly quickly.

Enjoy

Answer 7

My son's K and 1st grade teachers both "cooked' with their classes once a week. They chopped up salad, they made butter by shaking cream up in a jar (that one was hard, the jar needs A LOT of shaking). They'd read a book to the class and then have the kids make a "picture" of something from it, using pretzel sticks, small candies, crackers and frosting. They made soup together. Each group got to cut something up for it -- with a lot of supervision -- and then add it to the pot and give it a stir. They'd bake. A group would mix up its ingredients, form the cookies etc etc and bake.

Answer 8

Go to Amazon and order a book called "One Cup Cooking". It's full of recipes that allow kids to make individual portions. I don't know what you mean by experimenting. Please do not encourage the kids to "fool around" with food they will have to throw away. It sends a very poor message. On the other hand, they can make things like pizza and try different kind of toppings.

Answer 9

get down to their level

Answer 10

Make sure they're dead first.

Answer 11

I love to involve my daughters (3 and 6) in all the cooking and cleaning.  

When we are baking cookies I set it up at the kitchen table rather then the counter so it's at their level.  

PRE MEASURE is a great way to eliminate frustration.  Have him/ her crack the eggs in a seperate cup or bowl so you can fish out egg shells easier.  I line up the ingrediants and have the girls take turns 'dumping' them in. While one is adding to the concoction the other is stirring.

Keep wet paper towels handy there is going to be a lot of spills.  Remember when you begin there is going to be a BIG mess- so don't sweat the small stuff.

Make sure you have them help with clean up- drying the dishes, wiping down the counter/table or sweeping the floor- you may have to do it again after they go on to something else but it's teaching them cleaning up is a part of cooking.  I'd also put on some relaxing music so you don't get frustrated.

Remember to have fun and laugh at everything they do- your making precious memories take full advantage of it.

Answer 12

kids like to see stuff blow up SDike  just Let them Fix the batter and crack a few eggs and they would b just fine. just one more day easier

Answer 13

Mailbox has a great magazine out called Cook and Learn - google it - it has great recipes with themes involved.  We have used a lot of them. Watch out for your food allergies though!