Baking for preschoolers

10 Simple Recipes To Introduce Your Toddler To Baking

Cooking is great fun for children of all ages, even toddlers! Getting your little ones started in the kitchen at a young age is a great way to get them interested in food and to pick up important skills for later in life.

Obviously, their culinary ability might not be the best at this age, so use your discretion when deciding how hands-on they can get and most importantly, ensure that everyone is being safe.

Here are ten of our favourite recipes that little ones can help out with.

A classic starting point for any young baker, if you didn’t make Rice Krispie (or Cornflake) cakes as a youngster, what did you do?

They’re really easy to make, and kids will love getting involved stirring the mixture in with the cereal. They can get creative too, helping to decorate them at the end if you wish.

If you’re going to be treating your children to something chocolatey, it’s much better to have something homemade, so check out this brownie cake from the BBC Good Food site.

If you want, you can top your creation off with some cream or ice cream and fruit.

Sweet treats don’t have to be full of bad stuff, as you’ll see in these fruity muffins from food and parenting blogger Emily Leary.

With the sweet apples and strawberries and a bit of maple syrup, they don’t need any additional sugar either.

Why are they called thumbprint cookies? Well, one of the most fun parts about baking these cookies is for the kids to make a light dent in the dough with their thumb, which you then fill with jam.

Banana cookies are easy to make and you can easily adapt them to add in other ingredients, such as in this recipe which uses raspberries. Kids will love mashing and mixing up the ingredients too

Make sure to soak the sultanas before cooking otherwise they could burn, which is sure to put little ones off!

This simple treat can be enjoyed equally as a dessert with lemon curd and yogurt or as a mid-afternoon snack with a brew!

Kids will enjoy sprinkling the blueberries into the mixture and spreading the icing over the cake at the end!

Chocolate chip cookies are always a favourite snack, so why not make your own to make them a little healthier? As usual, the kids will love whisking and mixing!

The slow release carbs in this recipe will help make them a great mid-morning snack.

What’s great about this banana cake recipe is that the sweetness of the fruit and the agave syrup means that you don’t need to add sugar!

There’s loads that the kids can do in this one, including weighing and mixing the ingredients and drizzle the agave syrup at the end!

A great warming breakfast treat for an autumnal morning, these fruity yogurt oats are a good, healthy way to keep your little ones going through until lunchtime. They’re easy to make, with only four ingredients, and little ones will be able to join in and give them a stir.

The fun with gingerbread men comes in the decorating stage, where your little ones can get creative with the icing.

You can use all kinds of things, such as gumdrops, jelly beans and other sweets to dress up your gingerbread men and women however you want!

Whatever it is you’re cooking up in the kitchen, be sure to let your little ones get involved, even if they’re only watching and helping with the washing up, as it’s a great way to expose them to food, nutrition and some important skills which they’re going to need to use for themselves one day!

Baking with your children isn’t the only fun past time you can do with your kids. Role-play is an important part of your child’s development, and why not let them push a dolls pram along with their favourite doll, just like mum & dad!

40+ Kid-Friendly Baking Recipes - Sally's Baking Addiction

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The following kid-friendly baking recipes are my suggestions if you’re baking with young & eager kitchen helpers. The purpose of this page is to help adults find recipes that are fun and manageable when baking with children. As always, young bakers should have adult supervision in the kitchen. Post includes recipes free from common allergens as well as average recipe times.

Baking is an exciting activity that everyone can enjoy. Not only is it quality time spent together, baking ignites creativity, teaches how to follow instructions, involves math & counting, and always brings smiles. Between my entire team and I, we’ve baked with kids enough that we understand what goes into the process. In this post, I’m sharing which recipes are fun yet manageable with children as well as the helpful advice I’ve learned along the way. What’s your best advice when it comes to baking with kids?

5 Tips for Baking with Kids

Embrace the Mess: If you feel most calm in a tidy kitchen, set your expectations before starting. Baking with kids can be messy, but that’s the fun of it.
Big Bowls: From experience– use very large mixing bowls so there’s plenty of room for stirring, pouring, splashing, etc.
Pre-Measure If Needed: If you’re baking with more than 1 child, it’s likely helpful to have some ingredients pre-measured so all they have to do is pour into the mixing bowl. If you’re baking with 1 child who is beginning to understand math, it might be fun to have that child help measure so there’s learning involved. For example, “We have 2 cups flour and 1 cup cocoa powder needed, how many cups total do you think that is?”

Allow Enough Time: Baking takes time and baking with kids takes longer. The recipes listed below include the average time, but including children in the process may slightly extend those times. Consider it a fun journey rather than a means to an end.
Assign Jobs/Make it Fun: For example, if you have an 8 year old and 4 year old in the kitchen with you, give each a specific job such as the older child measures and the younger child stirs. If you’re baking with a child who is beginning to learn counting, have that child count all of the ingredients. To create excitement, you could call the child “chef” such as “please hand me the whisk, chef Sally” and label your kitchen tools with fun names such as “Sally’s Super Special Spatula” or “Dominic’s Mighty Mixing Bowl.” (This works wonders with super young bakers!) You could even pretend you’re doing a cooking show and make up a fun name for your show.

Kid-Friendly Baking Recipes

Muffins

Muffins are my #1 suggestion if you’re baking with kids. Muffins are (usually) easy to mix together, fun to spoon into liners, quick to bake, and you can enjoy them right away. They’re handheld, manageable for young bakers, freeze well, and keep all week long for snack, lunchboxes, or breakfast. Versatile, convenient, quick.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Cups & Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal Cups (35 minutes; gluten free if using certified GF oats; dairy free)
Any Flavor Muffins (45 minutes)
Whole Wheat Mini Pumpkin Muffins (35 minutes)
Baby Apple Banana Oat Muffins (1 hour; gluten free if using certified GF oats; dairy free)

And our go-to choice is this Banana Muffins recipe which usually takes 30 minutes. For a special treat, you can turn them into “cupcakes” by dipping the tops in chocolate ganache and adding sprinkles. I like using these naturally colored sprinkles for decoration.

Don’t limit yourself to just these! Browse all muffin recipes including these applesauce muffins which are packed with wholesome ingredients or these fun mini powdered sugar donut muffins.

More Breakfast

The following 4 recipes are all quite different, but very fun for kids. Wholesome breakfast cookies require just 1 mixing bowl and we love to indulge in the mini no yeast cinnamon rolls and sprinkle pancakes. The giant cinnamon roll is a longer baking project, but kids love to help roll/assemble it.

Breakfast Cookies (30 minutes; gluten free if using certified GF oats; dairy free)
Mini (No Yeast) Cinnamon Rolls (30 minutes; uses store-bought dough). Or regular no yeast cinnamon rolls if you want a recipe completely from scratch!
Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake (3 hours, 30 minutes)
Sprinkle Buttermilk Pancakes (40 minutes)

Homemade Kid-Friendly Snack Recipes

The following 4 recipes would be a fun afternoon activity before snacktime.

Homemade Cheese Crackers (1 hour, 30 minutes; egg free)
Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars (2 hours; gluten free; egg free)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars (2 hours; gluten free; egg free)
Soft Pretzel Bites (1 hour; egg free)

Easy Treats in Under 1 Hour

The following recipes are easy desserts/candies that come together in 1 hour or less.

Chocolate bark such as Lucky Charms Bark or Boo Bark (1 hour; egg free; gluten free; no baking involved)
Cookies & Cream Puppy Chow (15 minutes; no baking involved)
Candy Corn Pretzel Hugs & M&M Pretzel Hugs (25 minutes)
Chocolate Lava Cakes (25 minutes) – fun to bake these in a muffin pan!

Yeast Breads & Quick Breads

The following 5 recipes are savory baked goods. When it comes to baking with little helpers, I especially love making biscuits because they’re quick, require few ingredients, and kids can get their hands right in the dough. I also suggest Greek yogurt zucchini bread or pumpkin bread— you don’t need a mixer for either.

Soft Pretzels (40 minutes; egg free)
Homemade Pizza Crust (2 hours, 30 minutes; egg free)
Homemade Ham & Cheese Pockets (2 hours, 15 minutes)
Biscuits (35 minutes; egg free)
No Yeast Bread (55 minutes; egg free)

Kid-Friendly Cookies in 1 Hour (No Chilling)

The following 6 recipes are convenient because none require you to chill the cookie dough. Don’t limit yourself to just these! Browse all no chill cookie recipes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza (1 hour)
Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies (1 hour; gluten free if using certified GF oats; egg free)
Mini M&M Cookies (40 minutes)
Coconut Macaroons (1 hour; gluten free; dairy free)
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies (40 minutes)
Giant Monster Peanut Butter Cookie (45 minutes)

Decorating Baking Projects

The following 3 recipes are fun for young decorators.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake (2 hours)
Small Chocolate Cake (3 hours)
Sugar Cookies (4 hours)

Simple Baking Projects for Kids

I call the following recipes “baking projects” because each are a little more involved than a standard recipe such as rolling out dough or frosting & sandwiching cookies.

Oatmeal Creme Pies (2 hours)
Animal Cracker Cookies (4 hours, 30 minutes– most time is chilling dough & cooling)
Homemade Dog Treats (40 minutes)
Baked Apples (2 hours; gluten free; egg free)

Additional Simple Baking Projects

Cinnamon Roll Cookies (2 hours, 40 minutes)
Stained Glass Window Cookies (3 hours) – a lot of readers have mentioned how much fun their kids have with this one!
Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches (50 minutes)
Sandwich Bread (3 hours, 20 minutes; egg free)

Kids would also love making a small-batch cheesecake, a quicker cheesecake that you can bake in a loaf pan. Very approachable!

Involved Baking Projects

The following 4 recipes would be fun if you’re baking with older children. I wouldn’t necessarily call any of the recipes “advanced,” but they do require dedicated attention and guidance. All require some chilling or rising time.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts (3 hours, 30 minutes)
Monkey Bread (3 hours, 20 minutes)
Apple Hand Pies (3 hours, 15 minutes)
Gingerbread House (1 day)

Nut Free Recipes

Most of the recipes above are nut free with the exception of recipes for peanut butter baked goods. As always, double check recipe ingredients before starting.

Gluten Free Recipes

Here are all of my published gluten free recipes.

Egg Free Baking Recipes

Here are all of my published egg free baking recipes. Shortbread cookies are a favorite and also fun for little ones to decorate and make their own!

8 Ingredients or Less

If you’re looking to bake a recipe with few ingredients, I have an entire page dedicated to recipes with 8 or fewer ingredients, even some as low as 5 ingredients or less. I include dinners, desserts, breakfast, and snacks. Have fun!

Baking Made Easy

Are you new to this website? This email series is a great place to start. I’ll walk you through a few of my most popular recipes and show you exactly why they work.

👌 Baking for kids, 100 delicious recipes with photos 👌 Alimero

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