5 educational benefits of home baking with your kids

Welcome to 2021 and another lockdown, a necessary national effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. For families, it means that most kids are not going back to school just yet, they will be remote learning from home. And while teachers are providing guidance as to subjects and topics to be covered, it’s up to us parents to ensure our children actually learn something.

This is where home baking comes in.

Did you know there are many valuable learning benefits to be derived from spending time in the kitchen with your child? It’s a fun activity that produces yummy results that you can eat – at Cakes by Robin we’ve yet to meet a child who doesn’t love baking cookies or cakes! However, from an educational perspective, baking is so much more than that. Let’s take a closer look.

1.    Maths Practice

Baking is all about maths, and the beauty of it is that most kids won’t even realise they’re practicing their maths skills when helping to bake a cake. Follow a recipe and you have to measure out ingredients, maybe use addition and subtraction, multiplication and division to get the right proportion of ingredients. It’s applied maths in the kitchen, and everyone is motivated to get it right! We wrote a blog about this recently – you can read it here.

2.    Reading & Comprehension

In order to produce a batch of biscuits or cupcakes, you need to be able to read to understand the recipe and follow step-by-step instructions. In fact, lots of mental and physical skills must come together to produce a yummy outcome – from measuring and adding ingredients by stirring, folding or whisking, to baking for the correct length of time and at the required temperature, and finally icing and decorating the finished article.

3.    Real Life Science

Put on an apron and get in the kitchen – or should we say science lab? Baking is a great opportunity for children to experiment scientifically, often through trial and error. Not used enough flour or too much baking powder? Forgot to put in the eggs? Left it in the oven for too long? The results will speak for themselves… Help your kids to understand what went wrong and how to change it, and celebrate your successes by eating them all up!

4.    Communication skills

Spending time together in the kitchen is a great opportunity to initiate conversations about anything and everything in a relaxed environment. Encourage your child to share their views and opinions, give them the chance to open up about any issues they may face, and respond with emotional support. It’s a perfect time to bond with your child, helping them to develop into well-rounded, emotionally healthy individuals.

5.    Life skill development

Cooking and baking are essential life skills and, frankly, we think it’s never too early to start learning how to look after yourself. As children get older and transition into adulthood, knowing their way around food preparation can be hugely helpful to develop self-esteem, confidence and resilience. Why not give them a head start and help them to build a lifelong skillset in a fun learning environment at home?

At Cakes by Robin, we love to share our passion for all baked things, and we can create expertly designed cakes, cupcakes, cookies and dessert tables for any occasion – from children’s birthdays to weddings and much more. Click here to see some examples of our recent work and get in touch to place your order.