Bake with your kids

[Dina]

My 4 year old was in the mood to bake today and he decorated these funny faces. He used raisins for the eyes, Mike&Ike candy for the noses and Yogo's rollups for the hair and lips. He had a bit of a math and science lesson measuring all the ingredients and blending. Have you baked with your kids lately? Want to share some stories and pics on here?

 

[PA Baker]

Those are adorable, Dina! I'm sure you both had a good time making those!

At almost 2, my daughter's still a bit too young to do too much in the kitchen (although she'd argue you!), but she's in charge of adding fruit to the blender for smoothies, topping pizzas with cheese, and sprinkling cinnamon into the pot when I'm making applesauce. She has so much fun doing things like that I know we'll be cooking and baking more as she gets older!

 

[CherryRed]

I have no kids (still in college!) but I'm sure cooking is something we'll do together often. My mother used to let me help her bake bread and I had so much fun kneading it:

Apparently I also liked playing dress-up a bit too much. Haha.

I also remember my dad making meatballs and letting my sister and me add the spices. He would tell us to smell it and decide what it needed. Then he showed us how to form the meat into balls and let us watch as he cooked them. He did the same with pancakes, letting us add fruit or chocolate pieces as we pleased then allowing us to oversee the cooking process.

Then there were my grandparents. My grandmother on my mom's side in particular, as well as her sister (my great aunt). They seemed to always be making cookies, which of course I was delighted to help with. I think they've been a big influence in my ever-increasing passion for baking.

As soon as I have kids old enough to enjoy the many wonders of the kitchen, I'll definitely have them cook with me!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Have you baked with your kids lately?

Good question Miss Dina. I have another..Have you done ANYTHING with your kids lately? Kids spell Love...T-I-M-E


Have Fun with and Enjoy your Kids!

They grow up so fast..........

 

[Angie]

When ever we have my stepdaughter, we alway bake or cook something together. She loves doing it.

In June, for her b-day party, I let her bake and decorate her own cake. She was so proud of that!

 

[SurvivorGirl]

I don't have any kids (still in highschool) but I just wanted to make a comment...CherryRed, that is one adorable picture!

 

[CherryRed]

Thanks SurvivorGirl!

Oh yeah, I meant to include this in my original post: one of my favorite things to make used to be pumpkin cookies for Halloween. My mom would help me bake sugar cookies, then we'd frost them with orange icing (we just added food coloring to vanilla icing from the store), then we'd put on candy corn for the eyes and brown gel icing to make mouths. They were so cute! I wish I had pictures.

That's something all of you with children should try since it's the right time of year. It was a tradition in my house and I'm sure your kids will love it too!

 

[suziquzie]

So how do you handle the 2 & 4 year old oil / water duo constantly beating each other and grabbing everything on the counter? I love to bake with them but it starts to get angry.

 

[Bilby]

Get them to bake separate dishes? Make a pie, one helps with the filling, the other with the pastry? Reward good behaviour with decorating privilliges? Do it as one-on-one time? Is it that they are annoying each other or that they are competing for your attention? One problem might be lessened with separate tasks, the other problem needs separate time.

 

[suziquzie]

They fight over me, which isn't too flattering! They also have a "grass is greener" problem, they won't trade, it's all or nothing. Mr. 4 gets mommy time when Miss 2 (today!) is napping, but then he gets mad that she woke up to ruin it. In his defense, she is the clingiest mommy's girl you've ever seen. Sitting in a chair alone doesn't happen for me unless she's sleeping.

 

[Yakuta]

I have two boys and I used to love baking with them. Now they are getting older and are not that much into it - go figure.

Our favorite thing to do was to bake thumbprint cookies and fill them with different types of jams/jellies.

I would make two large sheetpans. My one son would be in charge of filling one with strawberry flavor and the other would get apricot. It was a lot of fun and no fights at all.

I also used to make snickerdoodles with them. I would make cinnamon sugar in two colors. I would add a pinch of green color in one and red in another and again two sheet pans so no fights.

We used to also make chocolate chip cookies and biscottis. I would let them dip the bisocottis in chocolate and then roll it in nuts. I wish they go back to be being younger again. It was so much fun. I have 2 little girls (of my friend) staying with us while their parents are taking a trip out of the country. I think I will put all 4 of them to work and get some good stuff baked over thanksgiving holidays.

BTW: Dina the cookies are the cutest ever and so neat, you can never tell that a 4 year old made them. My boys were so sloppy when they were 4 and still are (LOL) at 7 and 10.

 

[YT2095]

Good question Miss Dina. I have another..Have you done ANYTHING with your kids lately? Kids spell Love...T-I-M-E


Have Fun with and Enjoy your Kids!

They grow up so fast..........

THAT, is Sooooo bang on the Money!

my 2.5 year old Daughter is Frequently in the kitchen with me, and loves to Smell all the herbs and spices, so we go through them all and she learns the names, and gets to taste things as they are being made.
and she helps me fix things too!

 

[CherryRed]

This is a little late since halloween already passed, but I still want to post it! Hopefully it'll inspire some family fun for you in future years.

The Halloween cookies I mentioned before: bake some sugar cookies, ice with orange frosting (food coloring + store-bought vanilla frosting works well), then decorate with candy corn and decorator's icing. My 17-year-old sister decided she missed making them and wanted to bring them in for a school Halloween party. I, of course, was more than thrilled to help. So here's how they came out!

(Sorry for the pic quality - that's what you get when you use a camera phone!)

A normal smiley:

With a hat and bow tie:

Vampire smiley:

And my favorite - a kitty!

Hope some of you decide to try this sometime. Even at age 20, I still have fun making them.

 

[Dina]

Good question Miss Dina. I have another..Have you done ANYTHING with your kids lately? Kids spell Love...T-I-M-E


Have Fun with and Enjoy your Kids!

They grow up so fast..........

Uncle Bob,
I gave up my job for my kids. How's that? I'd rather have all the TIME for them and sacrifice my career right now.

 

[kadesma]

my kids can bake their own cookies now but I have the little ones coming along..Cade who is 7 knows the chocolate chip cookie recipe without my saying anything..When he was 2 I would stand him on a chair by the bread board after we gathered the ingredients and pans and things to get started...He loved to help Then as I would measure things I'd hand the spoon or cup to him and he would add it to the bowl..As we did this I'd tell him what each thing was, flour salt,then when ready to use the mixer I'd give it to him and let him turn it on guiding his hands with mine of course and we would beat the heck out that dough By then he was ready to get down and play and I'd do the rest..Now he can do it all including putting them in and out of the oven...Time to start Ethan, who will be 4 in may..He has been asking to make peanut butter cookies..Here we go again...
They say the best things in life are free, I say they are little kids
kadesma

 

[Uncle Bob]

Uncle Bob,
I gave up my job for my kids. How's that? I'd rather have all the TIME for them and sacrifice my career right now.

Miss Dina...That makes you very, very special! I would, that we lived in a world where all moms could make that choice! You are very blessed to be able to spend these formative years with them! They (and you) will always be thankful for this TIME you have given them!

((((Miss Dina))))))

 

[Bilby]

They fight over me, which isn't too flattering! They also have a "grass is greener" problem, they won't trade, it's all or nothing. Mr. 4 gets mommy time when Miss 2 (today!) is napping, but then he gets mad that she woke up to ruin it. In his defense, she is the clingiest mommy's girl you've ever seen. Sitting in a chair alone doesn't happen for me unless she's sleeping.

My friend's eldest daughter is very clingy too. It drives my friend insane. Anything else I say at this point would just be guesswork so I'll bow out and just wish you luck!

 

[Dina]

Cute story Kadesma. Thank you Uncle Bob. Here's a pic of my little one baking cresants. Check his baker's hat. Hee hee

 

[kadesma]

Cute story Kadesma. Thank you Uncle Bob. Here's a pic of my little one baking cresants. Check his baker's hat. Hee hee

Love the hat now all he needs is one of those aprons for kids like Cade has they look so cute in them...
kadesma

 

[Michael in FtW]

Humm ... if I remember right, the only apron I ever had to wear when I was a kid was flowered and had ruffles.

Some of the greatest times I remember with my sons was watching the cooking shows on PSB on Saturday afternoon - then going out to to the market to find something for supper. We had all kinds of fun going to the Asian market and buying things we had nothing to go by other than the picture on the can ... and then trying to make a meal out of it. They were always part of preparing meals ... and I'm sure that is why they were never picky eaters ... we discussed, shopped, prepped, and cooked together. By the time they were in Jr. High (guess that is called Middle School now) they could prepare an entire meal from whatever we had on hand (and I bought very few canned goods). When they were in High School they had a chance to take a vocational pogram and work in a restaurant - both wound up as head cook and kitchen managers ... when my oldest son moved up to night manager his younger brother moved up to take over the kitchen.

It doesn't take much to get kids involved - an upbeat attitude, talking with them about exploring new things (hey, let's get this and see what it taste like ...), spending time together, making them a part of the process - no matter how menial or simple the task ... if they help they will at least try it ... and usually eat it. Heck - when they were really young - I poured out a bottle of candy "sprinkles" onto a plate and had them seperate the colors - then we counted them ... to make sure we had the same number of each color. And geeze - how simple ... put some butter on some bread and let them sprinkle on some cinnamon and sugar to make their own toast for breakfast - and they will even eat cream-of-wheat if they get to stir it (even if it is already ready and the heat is turned off and they are just stirring in the butter and sugar).

I am fortunate to have just moved and now live across the street from 3 of my 5 grandkids (2 of my 4 grand-daughters and my 2-yo grandson) ... and I hope to repeat the process with them - when I can get enough unpacked to really cook again. But, to hedge the bet - I picked up the double DVD of Ratatouille from WalMart that has a 2nd DVD of FoodNetwork cooks doing cooking with kids ... now all I have to do is find the box with the DVD player ...

I love cooking with kids ....