In this activity, you and your child will bake a sweet treat together.
Learning Area(s): Language and Communication; Math
MATERIALS
- muffin, cupcake, cake, or cookie recipe
- ingredients
- baking equipment: measuring cups, teaspoon/tablespoon, bowls, mixer or spatula, baking pans, etc.
LET'S PLAY
Tell your child: “Today we are going to bake a delicious treat together! We are going to use our ingredients and different baking tools. Our baking tools are the objects we need to help us bake.” Hold up a measuring cup. “This measuring cup is an important type of baking tool because it helps us measure out our ingredients. What are some other tools we might need to use today?” Allow your child some time to think and share his ideas. If he can’t think of anything, you can pick up the spatula, measuring spoons, and pans and talk about each tool needed for baking and how it’s used. You might also talk about kitchen equipment like an electric mixer. Tell your child the name of the item and what it is used for.
“We also need to gather our ingredients. Ingredients are what our treat is made of. All the ingredients that go into our treat are listed in the recipe. Let’s look at our recipe now so that we know what we need and how to put it all together. As I read the ingredients, help me double check that we have everything we need.”
Read the recipe together. Explain the cooking steps and ask questions as you go to make sure your child understands. Start following the recipe. Help your child pour and mix ingredients. While measuring each ingredient, encourage your child to practice counting and identifying numbers (for example, counting the number of teaspoons of an ingredient that are measured into the bowl, or noticing the numbers on a measuring cup). You can explain that in baking, using correct amounts is important. You can also use words that talk about quantity, for example, too much, more, and less, and words that describe the changes in the mixture, such as dry, lumpy, moist, crumbly, or smooth. Talk about what each ingredient does for the recipe as you add it in.
After your treat is made, enjoy eating it together and celebrate your good baking skills!
TIPS
- You can do this activity while preparing any food or dessert, like dinner or jello. Allow your child to choose his favorite dish or dessert.
- Allow your child to help you prepare the baking sheets, but supervise your child closely near the oven.