I love spending time doing things with my grandchildren. Playing games, walking, talking, even plotting stories are all activities we’ve enjoyed sharing. But one thing they always request and are eager to do is help bake something. Cookies, mostly, but sometimes cakes, breads, or rolls.

The reward at the end of the process provides at least some of the motivation for their interest, but they do also enjoy the measuring, stirring, and mixing as well.

Breaking eggs into the bowl is a skill I teach them.

One of my most treasured moments happened many years ago, when my oldest granddaughter was in grade school. She told me one day that she was working on a baking project with her class when the teacher asked if anyone knew how to crack an egg into the bowl without smashing it. Granddaughter volunteered, telling the teacher that her grandmother had taught her how to do it.  {Proud Grandma Moment}

Last summer when two of my grandchildren from England were visiting, we did the requisite batch of cookies, but the older of the two enjoyed it so much, she pitched in to help me make several other things, including some sweet breads and a big pot of soup for the family.

This holiday season included several baking sessions. We introduced my two-year-old great grandson to the fun of it. He helped in a couple of different ways. The pictures above on the left show him helping spoon flour through the cover into the mixing bowl.

He also helped us decorate sugar cookies, having a grand time sprinkling colored sugars over the unbaked shapes. We found a nice hack to let him have fun without the danger of his dumping the entire container of sugar onto the tray.

We took one of the empty bottles of colored sugar, with a sprinkler top, and put small amounts of the crystals into, letting him shake that over the cookies. He enjoyed it and we didn’t have to worry about two-inch mounds of sugar on each.

He shows signs of enjoying the process as much as my other grandchildren have.