Kitchen Helpers

This month I have been striving to make baking more of a priority as part of my children's education. We just finished reading Little House on the Prairie and one Christmas Laura explains about the "Christmas Cakes" she receives as a gift. Laura and Mary get cakes in their stockings and they couldn't be happier. So, I was browsing on the Little House webpage and found this recipe for Heart-Shaped Christmas Cakes and once I saw how simple they are I decided we should make them and make the story come alive some more. So we did.

The recipe is very simple and the kids couldn't wait to jump right in!

Our oldest helped out by reading the instructions for us....

While, someone else began pouring in ingredients....

And we all took turns mixing! Whew!

Placed the cookies on the cookie pan (actually we used a pizza pan! Haha..)

Sorry, I don't have pictures of the final product because well, we ate them really fast :)

Cooking provides the kids with lots of educational concepts such as following instructions, measuring, reading, motor skills, listening skills, and learning kitchen safety. We could take it further and even add in more math concepts like how much the ingredients cost and how much each cookie would work out to be. We'll save some of that for when they are a bit older though.

No matter how you go about it, bringing cooking into your day is a great learning experience for everyone. I know I'm learning to be more patient!! It's a great way to bring fun into your home-school day and create memories together. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do.

How about you? What do you like to cook with your family? What are some of your favorite memories cooking with family? I'd love to hear them!