Help in the kitchen

I've talked before about the fact that both my boys love to help me bake, which works since I love to bake. Today we baked gooey butter cookies, which I got off the sidebar of Facebook, and will be reviewing on Tuesday.

Colby helped me mix up the dough. He helped follow the directions step by step. He helped measure the 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. This recipe wasn't measurement heavy, but a lot of the ones I make are typically. There is so much for children to learn in the kitchen. Think about it... they follow directions, go step by step, hear fractions, addition (2 cups of flour and 1 more cup equals 3 cups of flour), they hear temperatures which gives them numbers in the 100s, they hear time and so much more. Never mind all the science that takes place too.

Both boys helped prepare the cookies to be baked. When they both help they have to share a space, take turns, listen and follow directions. This time Blake started helping me and rolled the cookies in the powdered sugar and then put them on the pan. When Colby joined us, they took turns doing both jobs. They also counted all the cookies we made and helped me divide them among the 3 cookie sheets. You don't have to be a teacher to teach math skills... you just have to get them involved.

Tonight the boys also helped make dinner. We were having meatball subs. Colby helped make the mix and then Blake joined us. They saw the process, but they also so how it could be altered. I want them to see the difference between cooking and baking. Baking is a precise process and cooking is not. You can take a recipe for cooking and use it as a guide and go from there. We used a box mix to start the meatballs which I used turkey to make and then added: garlic, grated onion, and seasonings. They got the opportunity to shake in the spices and grate the onion on the microplane.

I hope you take time to get your kiddos involved in the kitchen. Think of how much you are giving them... math, science, reading... oh and the ability to cook is always a good thing to have in your back pocket later in life (o:

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Today's goals:
-- go to the gym with the boys... maybe try the ab and stretch classes? [check... but I went to yoga instead since Richard and I did Ab Ripper X last night]
-- make cookies with the boys [check]
-- strip the bed and wash the sheets [check]
-- clean the master bath (other two got cleaned over the weekend) [check]
-- make meatball subs for dinner [check]
-- post wordless Wednesday pictures [check... did you miss them? look here]
-- get outside to play [check got out for almost 2 hours today]

Tomorrow's goals:

-- go to the Y and try the step class

-- vacuum the whole house

-- pick Blake up from school

-- make sandwiches for lunch

-- go to soccer practice

-- remember to pack other toys to keep Colby entertained at soccer