Baking with preschoolers has so many benefits, the first one being spending quality time engaging and connecting and bonding together. Some other benefits are developing fine and gross motor skills as we are stirring and measuring. Early math and reading skills as we talked about the recipe as I read off the ingredients and the amounts needed. Learning to understand how to follow instructions and the order of steps it takes to make muffins. The children took turns scooping, dumping and mixing everything together. As they dumped the ingredients into the bowl we counted; one cup, two cups etc. We talked about how if we don’t get the right amount of ingredients, the muffins would not taste good or bake properly. It was also a lesson in patience and teamwork. As the children waited for a turn to scoop, dump or stir, but we all worked together to create a yummy spinach, cottage cheese and feta squares/muffins. Involving children in the process of making the food they eat, offers opportunities to introduce new foods, helps them to become more adventurous eaters, develop healthy eating habits and develops a positive relationship with different types of foods. As we made the muffins we talked about our upcoming morning muffins day and that we hope mommies, daddies or grandparents could stay and sit down with them to eat a muffin for morning snack. It was another great bonding and engaging moment. It was a great opportunity for families to stay and share in conversation and connect with their child, their child’s friends and teachers. The children were also very excited to show off what they helped to make.
