The Developmental Benefits of Baking Cookies

As my fellow blogger Andrea mentioned yesterday, baking with kids is messy. A one-hour cookie project can easily take just as long to clean up!  I thought it would get better when my boys got older, but it hasn’t. Every time they master a skill, like measuring, they want to do something tougher, like separate eggs.

The upside to all the cleanup is that baking is excellent for kids’ healthy development.

Preschoolers:

• Get a fine motor skills workout while measuring, spooning, manipulating, scraping, and stirring — and snitching samples!
• Learn language skills while talking about what’s happening.
• Start to understand sequences and follow steps in order, early math skills.

Elementary kids:

• Learn math skills like addition, fractions, problem-solving and, if all goes well, tallying up the final number of products made.
• Absorb science and chemistry lessons about the properties of well-mixed dry ingredients, the power of baking powder, and the way a wet batter, when heated, becomes a dry treat.
• Gain knowledge of kitchen safety, cleanliness and discipline (that is, hanging around to finish a task AND help clean up!).
• Can discuss differences in ingredients between homemade and store-bought cookies (sugars, preservatives, coloring, etc.).

At all ages, children’s social-emotional development gets a boost from hanging out with caring adults and making something that gives others joy.

As I type this, in fact, my 4-year-old is pestering me to bake sugar cookies – he saw me go into my recipe files for a couple of family favorite recipes to share in this blog. The first two are holiday goodies I learning to make when I was a child. The first will work little ones’ motor skills with rolling, cutting and sprinkling; the second recipe is a no-bake candy that involves making balls and dipping. The third one can be made by mixing it all by hand – literally!  My father-in-law says that is the optimal way to make the dough. You be the judge.

Ethel’s Sugar Cookies

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs and lemon extract and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder and salt; mix thoroughly. Scrape the dough from the bowl onto a square of plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the dough, a third at a time, ½ inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. These cookies freeze well, though if you will be frosting them, wait until they’re thawed to add icing of your choice.

Irene’s Honey Candy

Mix the honey, peanut butter, peanuts and dry milk until completely combined. Form it into balls the size of a small walnut. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until smooth. Dip the balls into the chocolate. Place them on waxed paper and let cool. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Grandma De’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla, beating until well blended.  Combine the flour, salt and soda and add them all together; mix thoroughly.  Stir in the chips and nuts, if using.  Drop the batter from teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until slightly brown.  For softer cookies, immediately remove them to a covered container lined with paper towels (separate the layers with waxed paper so the cookies don’t stick). For crunchier cookies, allow them to cool on wire racks before storing. These cookies freeze well.

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting