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Holiday Baking with Kids

Making Memories in the Kitchen without the Stress

By Angela McConville December 13, 2012

The halls are decked, the stockings are hung and now it’s time to step into the kitchen. Kids, undoubtedly, love to lend a “helping” hand in the kitchen especially when it comes time to make the Holiday cookies. Here are a few tips:

 

  • Make it fun! Turn up the Holiday tunes, put on your Christmas aprons, heck maybe even throw on a Rudolph nose or a set of Dasher’s antlers. This will set the tone of fun in the kitchen.
  • Pick recipes that are easy (or that you know well enough) so you can divvy out a job to them. Making dough would be a great job for the kids and maybe you want to save the rolling out of the dough for nap time or when they are at practice.
  • Set expectations. We all know that most baking especially at the Holidays can equal an 8 hour session in the kitchen. Let the kids know ahead of time what you plan for them to do (make dough or mix frosting) and then have an activity set-up off to the side that they can work on while you finish the rest.
  • Include mini-lessons. Baking is a great way to set-up a small lesson on fractions and they might not even realize they are learning. It’s an easy, hands-on way to see exactly how fractions work and why they’re important to understand.
  • Enjoy the moment! Kids in the kitchen can equal quite a mess especially if they are still learning how to measure, pour and mix. Put your OCD aside and get your hands messy right with them. It may bring out a playful side of you that they’ve never seen and will sure enjoy. 

 

Tools we love for baking in the kitchen with or without your kids:

 

For great Holiday recipes and more OXO tools that we love visit our Pinterest Board