This year National Baking Week falls between the 14th and 20th October. Pyrex founded National Baking Week in 2007, with the aim of encouraging people of all abilities to bake at home. Gill is not a natural baker (her sister got that skill!) so we thought it ironic that she was going to write about the benefits of baking with kids! But it really got her thinking about when she does bake, what the benefits of baking with children are.
Here’s a few benefits of baking with children… and not just eating the yummy creations:
- Increases Language Development From reading instructions to following directions, baking gives them greater language skills.
- Enhances Fine Motor Skills: Mixing, rolling dough, cutting biscuits and flipping pancakes. All are perfect activities to develop their fine motor skills needed for writing and colouring.
- Increases Maths Ability: From learning about measurements to using their addition and subtraction skills, it’s a perfect way to make maths fun!
- Improves Reading Skills: From reading the numbers to following the directions, baking is perfect for any age!
- Introduces Kids to Scientific Concepts: What happens when certain ingredients are mixed together? What what happens if something is incorrect? Baking is always a fun science experiment! For some scientific cooking ideas check out the Usborne book 50 Science Things to Make and Do.
- Increases Focus and Attention: The children learn that if they want to eat the cake or biscuit at the end, then they need to pay attention to the directions!
- Teaches Life Skills: Safety in the kitchen, learning how to use kitchen utensils and learning to bake food. Baking really helps them as they grow to be more independent young adults.
- Promotes Healthy Eating: It encourages children to think about what goes into the foods they eat and how to create some healthier versions of a shop bought one.
- Boosts Self-Confidence: From creating a delicious cake to baking by themselves, baking helps boost their self-confidence and self-esteem.
- Encourages Family Bonding: No matter what your ability is, baking is a great activity to create some happy family memories.
“But I’m not a natural baker!”
Gill is not a natural baker so it does take her longer to make something and creates more mess! Ember in particular does love the process….and licking the spoon…so that makes the messy kitchen all worth while. If you’re not a natural baker and so don’t have lots of ingredients or baking equipment in, then take a look at these ideas……
Baking
Hoping that our benefits of baking with children has given you some help and encouragement to get baking a little more with your Little Active People! If you have any tips to help make baking fun for those non bakers, then let us know!
Jemma and Gill xxx
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