How to Encourage Your Kids to Bake

Want to get your kids into baking? After all, it can be a satisfying hobby that will keep them well away from their tablet and the games on your mobile phone! And with the Stand Up to Cancer celebrity Great British Bake Off currently on our TV screens, it’s the perfect time to hold your very own mini baking contest at home.

Here’s how you can get your little ones into baking in 2020…

Turn it Into a Game

Perhaps your child has expressed an interest in baking? Or maybe they’re not that bothered at all, but you’re the one who loves nothing more than putting some cake mix in the oven. Either way, by turning baking into a game, you’ll be encouraging even the most reluctant young bakers to give the hobby a go.

For example, you could both create the same batch of biscuits and see if other members in the family can tell your sweet treats apart – or take them around to friends and family and get them to do a blind taste test.

Ask them to score the baking and offer some feedback, Paul Hollywood style. Then, you’ll both have some firm pointers ahead of the next batch you make.

Teach Them the Science Behind Baking

There’s absolutely no reason why baking can’t be educational, too.

What makes the cake rise? Why is egg needed to bind it together? And who ‘invented’ cake? Your kids may well have some questions – science or history-related, or otherwise. Do your best to answer them and ensure they’re learning while enjoying themselves.

Treat Them to Some New Kit

Of course, you don’t need much to get going with baking – and you could rifle through your cupboards and pull together a starter kit, including an apron, a mixing bowl or two, and a hand mixer.

Or you could splash out and treat them to some new baking kit. When they pick out their favourite pieces, they might be more likely to turn the odd baking afternoon into a proper hobby.

Invite Their Friends Over

If they still don’t feel enthused by baking, why not invite their friends over to join the fun? Oversee them and give them plenty of encouragement along the way. Perhaps you could also be the Paul Hollywood of the kitchen and judge their bakes, as mentioned earlier in the piece.

Get Them to Make Their Own Pudding

There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting down to something you’ve made yourself – whether it’s your evening meal or a delicious pudding. So, teach them that joy and get them to create a homemade dessert everyone will be talking about around the dinner table.

They may be inclined to ensure pudding making is a more regular thing, providing everyone dishes out enough praise – where it’s due, of course.

You could try a different recipe each week and up your game each time, starting with a traditional Victorian sponge before tackling something a little more delicate, like macarons.

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Until next time…