Want to want to bake with kids, but can’t get over the potential downsides? I can be fun, I promise! You just need to bake with kids the right way. Come on, I’ll show you how!
If you’re following along with my Fall Bucket List, you have some family baking you need to do. Even if you aren’t trying to check things off a bucket list, it’s still pretty fun to bake with kids. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of me posted up in the corner of my mom’s kitchen, helping her bake or cook or just talking to her while she made meals or treats for the family. Give the kids in your life the joy of similar memories by getting in the kitchen with them and baking something delicious. Of course, these can be kids of your own, but it can also be grandkids, nieces and nephews, friends, or any other kids in your life!
I know I’m painting an idyllic picture of baking with kids by focusing on the happy memories, but I understand that there is a darker side to baking with kids. It can be messy and downright frustrating if you let it. Baking with kids doesn’t have to be frustrating, though, if you set yourself up for success. Follow these tips and you’ll be happy to bake with kids!
How to Bake with Kids
Mentally prepare
If you want to bake with kids, you need to be mentally ready. It’s sort of like preparing for battle. You must be in the right mindset, or it’s doomed from the start. My suggestion is to decide when and what you’d like to bake with kids enough in advance to give yourself time to prepare. At least make time to pour yourself a cup of coffee and hype yourself up for the task while you drink it. If it’s helpful to repeat a mantra to keep yourself focused, might I suggest “mess is memories”?
Pick a simple recipe
Another absolutely crucial thing to get right when you bake with kids is the recipe you choose. Now is not the time to try anything new or particular complicated. Sure, it would be fun to learn how to bake a souffle or croissants, but not with kids. They don’t have the attention span.
When you bake with kids, I highly recommend a recipe you’ve made with success before by yourself. You know the steps and you can better judge how to involve the kids. Even if you see a recipe on Pinterest or Instagram that looks so cute, don’t try it first with the kids. Do it by yourself first and then repeat with the kids if you think it would be a successful recipe for the kids to follow.
I also highly recommend that you pick something simple with only a few steps that doesn’t require a lot of waiting around. Kids love cupcakes, sure, and they’re not that hard to make, but they might not love waiting around for the cupcakes to cool before they can make the frosting and frost the cupcakes. You want something that you can make all in one go, stick in the oven, and eat. My go-to recipes to use when I bake with kids are fruit crisps and bar cookies/brownies. I’ll link below some of the recipes that have been successful bakes with my kids:
Have the right equipment
When you bake with kids, you need to make sure you have a few extra pieces of equipment that you wouldn’t need if you were baking alone. Of course, you still need the typical stuff like measuring cups, a whisk, a wooden spoon, etc., but I’m focusing here on the extra stuff you need when you decide to involve kids in your baking adventures.
Tower/stool
Kids are short, so they need a little help to reach the kitchen counter. When you bake with kids, you need to have something to raise them up to counter height. My favorite way to do this is with a learning tower. We got it when my oldest was about 18 months and it has changed my life for the better for many years since. If you want to bake with kids who aren’t yours, this isn’t a necessary investment. You can use a stool or a chair or even move your preparations to the table so it’s easier for them to reach.
Kid-safe knives
If you’ll need to cut anything to make the recipe you have chosen, you’ll need some kid-safe knives. In my experience, if I’m cutting something, my kids want to be cutting too. I quickly learned that kid-safe knives were a necessity in my kitchen. The good news is that they’re inexpensive and they do work to cut most things you’d want to cut when you bake with kids, so your kids won’t be frustrated by an impossible task.
Non-breakable bowls
If you’re like me, you like glass or ceramic bowls when you’re baking. It’s not a good idea to use these breakable bowls when you bake with kids, however, so it’s a good idea to have some non-breakable bowls around. You can opt for plastic or stainless steel. If it doesn’t break, it’s up to the task.
Dress for mess
Baking with kids is not the time to put anyone in adorable outfits that you’d be upset getting messy. I’m talking about both you and the kiddos. Dress everyone in clothes you don’t care about so you’re not hyper-focused on making sure flour or butter doesn’t end up on fabric. Don’t forget to grab a cute apron for yourself, and cute aprons for your kids too! They come in so many adorable prints. We have a dinosaur one for my son and a unicorn one for my daughter, but they each wear both.
Assign age-appropriate jobs
It cannot be a free-for-all when you bake with kids. You need to have a plan for who is going to do what job. The kids will likely be so excited to bake that they will want to do everything by themselves, but we all know that won’t work with little kids. To avoid the “I do it by myself!” refrain, come in prepared with age-appropriate jobs for everyone and communicate with your kids at the outset what jobs they will be doing.
Whisking and stirring are great jobs for younger kids, along with dumping measuring cups into the bowl. Slightly older kids can handle cutting fruit with their kid-safe knives and cracking eggs. Grown-ups should probably handle any of the pouring tasks and, of course, getting things in and out of the oven.
Clean up
No one likes to clean up. It’s the least fun part of any project. But it’s important to involve kids in the clean up to teach them that clean up comes with the territory of baking.
Just like you gave your kids age-appropriate tasks when you were making your goodies, assign them age-appropriate clean up tasks too. Younger kids can bring dishes to the sink and wipe messy counters. Older kids can man the spray bottle and wash the dirty dishes.
Enjoy your work
Now here is everyone’s favorite part of baking – with or without kids: enjoying the treat you’ve made! It has been my experience that kids are way more excited to eat something when they have a hand in making it. (Psst, this tip doesn’t just work for baked goods, but also for savory items too. It’s how I got my older kid to eat vegetables when he was 3 years old and on a veggie strike.)
Make sure you set aside time to sit down and enjoy the treat you’ve made with your kids. If you can’t find the time to enjoy what you’ve made together, bake with kids another day when you can. These little moments sitting around the kitchen table eating the fruits of your labor will stick with you (and the kids) for years to come!
Other posts
If you’re looking for other kid-related tips, check out these posts:
I hope you’ll find some time to bake with kids this Fall – it really can be fun! What are you planning to bake with your kids this Fall? Share down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.