Overlee Family Centre

Official Website for Overlee Family Centre, East Renfrewshire

Big Chef, Little Chef

Bake With Me at Overlee

There are so many things that can help your child learn. From simply observing you to enjoying daily tasks, your child can learn new skills, develop skills they already have, and continue to grow. One activity that can help them learn and develop new skills is baking and cooking. While these are tasks you may often not let them help with (we know that sometimes you just want to make dinner quickly with no interruptions after a long day) it can be a fun way to spend time with them and help them learn a thing or two at the same time!

At Overlee Family Centre, we love regular activities that can benefit children. Exploring nature, playing board games, doing crafts, and other activities like this are not only fun for your kiddo but extremely beneficial as well! If you are looking for a way to help them learn while also having fun, try baking or cooking with them.

Teaches Them To Follow Directions

Nothing teaches you to follow directions quite like a recipe. If you are baking cookies and don’t follow the recipe exactly, you may end up with cookies that get thrown away. When you bake or cook with your children, they will begin to learn the benefits of following directions and how important it can be. Some recipes must be followed for the end results to turn out perfectly. When your child learns this the hard way, they will begin to realise how important it can be to follow directions.


Allows For Creativity

With that being said, cooking some meals allows for creativity. When you are cooking with your child, switch it up, and don’t follow a recipe. Instead, ask them what they would like to make and what you should put in it. You can truly make anything work with pasta. Let them decide what seasonings to use, what to add to the pasta, and let them get creative. Creativity is an important skill for your child to learn and this is a great way to help them! Some kids may even want to play chef where they try new recipes without you helping them. Of course, if you do this, make sure you don’t let them use any of the serious cooking utensils or appliances!

Helps With Numeracy Skills

Cooking and baking involve a lot of numbers. When you work in the kitchen with your children, you can help them boost their numeracy skills. Have them count the eggs, help you with different measurements, and put the right amount of time on the timer. All of the counting and measuring involved in cooking and baking can help them get a better understanding of numbers and will give them a head start when they begin learning fractions!

Improve Reading Skills

Since most recipes involve directions, cooking and baking can also help your child with their early reading skills. They can read you the ingredients and the directions with you, which will help them develop their skills in general. But this can also help them better understand what they are reading and how reading has a purpose. When they read the directions and then understand that an action goes to those directions, it can help them better understand that the two are related. They will also begin to learn the meaning of more words, which brings us to our next point.

Boosts Language Development

Cooking and baking can help boost your child’s language development by teaching them new words and what actions go to those words. Recipes also explain each step of the process, which describes what your child will be doing, this can help improve their language development as well.

Improves Motor Skills
Cooking and baking can also help improve children’s gross and fine motor skills. From stirring and rolling to scooping and squeezing, your child will be using their hands a lot while cooking and baking. This improves their motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Kitchen Skills

One of the more obvious benefits that cooking and baking offers your child is kitchen skills. This is a life skill that many people don’t learn before they have to figure it out for themselves. By spending time in the kitchen with your child, you allow them to learn important life skills that will stick with them for years to come. Who knows, maybe one day they will be cooking dinner for you!

Healthier Lifestyle

It is no surprise that home-cooked meals are generally healthier than meals from restaurants or fast food places. When you teach your child to cook at home, you are teaching them to live a healthier lifestyle and develop a healthier, more positive relationship with food. You can also help teach them that you can cook vegetables in a variety of ways that are delicious and nutritious!

Special Bond

Cooking and baking with your child is another thing that you can bond over. This is a fun activity that allows you to spend time together in your home environment. When you make this a special activity with your child, it is something that they can remember for years to come. If you are busy at work just to come home and make dinner before putting your children to bed, you are likely not spending a lot of time with them. Sadly, life is hectic and busy for most parents, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spend time with your children. Instead of cooking dinner alone while they play, ask them to cook with you! They may be excited to spend time with you and realise how fun helping you cook can be. This could easily become a fun weekly tradition that allows you to spend more time with your kiddos. Plus, baking together on special occasions can be a fun memory that they hold on to forever.

There are many benefits that come with cooking and baking with your child. Your child can learn new things and develop the skills they already have. This is a simple and fun activity to do with your children that will provide them with a variety of benefits.

“The best thing we can do to ensure a healthy weight for our children is help them develop healthy eating habits, be regularly physically active and cut down on overall sitting time. As well as enjoying a healthy lifestyle, children will also be improving their social and mental health, which will benefit their social skills and self-confidence as they grow up.” – Setting the Table (2014)

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