How to Teach Children to Bake

By eHow Parenting Editor

Every kid loves cookies & cakes and teaching children to bake is a great opportunity to spend quality time with your children. While they thrill at covering the kitchen in flour, you will enjoy watching your children learn about fractions, temperature, time management and responsibility. So grab an apron, and teach your children to bake their favorites.

Step1

Make baking fun.

Step2

Keep it simple. Give the children an opportunity to be successful. Have them start with a simple recipe and master it before moving on to more complicated directions.

Step3

Read or ask your child to read the recipe out loud. This will help him learn new words and terms.

Step4

Assemble all the necessary equipment. Ask your child to get out the bowls, cookie sheets, measuring utensils and ingredients that are within his reach to help him learn organizational skills.

Step5

Help your child learn fractions by allowing her to measure ingredients like ½ tsp. vanilla or 1/3 cup chopped nuts. Let your child measure both liquid and dry ingredients using the appropriate measuring cup.

Step6

Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and sweep the excess off with a straight edge to achieve an accurate measurement. Show your child the difference in the amount of flour in the cup when you spoon it in versus dipping the cup directly into the flour. *If your child is younger it may be best to measure everything in advance so that you can better keep track of everything going into the mix.

Step7

Show your child how to be responsible for keeping track of the time so the cake does't burn.

Step8

Encourage your child's creativity in decorating or choosing the design.

Step9

Stress the importance of safety in the kitchen . Make sure all towels, pot holders and hair are kept away from the heat. Supervise your child's use of sharp utensils and hot pans.

Things You’ll Need:

• Easy cookie recipe
• Ingredients listed on recipe
• Aprons and decorating materials (optional)
• Bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cookie sheets
• Oven mitt or potholder