My Boys Can Cook - Preschoolers in the Kitchen

My dad had a sweet tooth which meant I grew up in a household where cookies, cakes and ice cream were always part of the dinner menu. We weren't very old when Mom had us following recipes ourselves and responsible for the weekly baking.

So when my boys were small, it was natural for me to have them involved in the baking that I did on a regular basis. They loved stirring anything and everything, even if the bowl only contained one ingredient. Of course if one of them had something added, the other one had too as well, otherwise pandemonium was sure to break out.

When having children around the age of 3 helping you in the kitchen, you may want to keep a couple of things in mind:

• Make sure they are in their play clothes. They'll get flour on the front of whatever they're wearing so it's best not to have them bathed and in their p.j.s and headed for bed right after Baking Time. 
• I found cookie recipes worked best. They're easily mixed with a fork. One of my boys would be content stirring the flour etc. while the other was content stirring the butter and eggs. And they would switch periodically. As long as each one had their own bowl, they were happy. 
• Messes will happen so stay calm. Their little hands don't have the same coordination as us and it takes practice to learn to control their measuring skills and their stirring action. The important thing is the time you're spending together and their participation in preparing food. In the Big Scheme of things, it's no big deal if a little flour gets on the counter or on the floor. It's easy to clean up with a small brush and pan, which the kids can do anyway. 
• I always tried to work at their pace. Sometimes this meant doing other things in the kitchen while they continued to dig holes and build mountains with the flour or mix their 'cement' with the butter and eggs. They were fascinated by their ability to move the contents of their bowls with their forks so I usually tried to let this part last as long as they wanted.   
• Don't plan on sharing your baking. Many times we started making cookies that I intended to share with my neighbours, only to have some monstrous sneeze happen right over everything. I quickly learned that any important baking that was to be shared with the church or non-family members had to be done when the boys weren't home.  
• Count when you put the dough on the trays. When the boys were about 4, they were able to put the dough out themselves but when I was doing it, they would both sit on the counter and lean over the cookie sheet and point to where I was to drop the next spoonful. We would practice counting to 4 or 5, then start over again. The counting went higher when they were putting the dough out themselves.
• Have them clean up. We always did the cleaning up together while the cookies were baking. They put things away and swept the floor and wiped the counter while I washed the dishes. It was all part of baking. 

It is my hope that getting the boys into the kitchen at an early age will go a long way toward helping them establish an enjoyable, healthy and complex relationship with food and food preparation.