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Kids In The Kitchen–Guest Post

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Getting your kids in the kitchen may seem like a lot of work, but it is one of the best ways to teach them life long lessons! I am going to tell you about the amazing benefits that you and your child will receive from spending time together in the kitchen while we bake monkey bread.

Let’s start with washing our hands. This is the perfect time to teach your child a thing or two about microbiology. You can say something like this:
There are teeny, tiny bugs that are invisible to your eye. They live all over the place! Some of them help us, but some of them can make us sick. It’s important to wash our hands so that we only keep the good ones around us.  Let’s sing happy birthday twice as we rub our hands together really fast with soap, and then we can rinse them with water. Why do we have to rub our hands together really fast? Good question! That’s what’s going to get the bad bugs off, since soap alone won’t do the trick, so rub, rub, rub!
Click photo to enlarge
Now it’s time to start baking the ooeey, gooey monkey bread!!
Step 1: Read through the recipe. If your kids are at an age where they can read, have them read it to you while you gather the supplies together. Hey, look at that! They are getting some reading practice and they will hardly even notice it! If they complain, then have them gather the supplies while you read it out loud to them. Little do they know, they have to read the labels on the containers to be sure that they have the right ingredients. Sneaky, sneaky…
Step 2: Make sure that you have all of the equipment that you need. A knife, a cutting board, a measuring cup, a measuring spoon, a plastic bag that zips shut, a baking pan, a microwave safe bowl, and a timer. As you do this you can discuss the importance of being prepared. Not only will it save you time, but you are less likely to be frustrated!
Step 3: Have your child read the directions of the recipe to you, or you can read it to them. Then begin the proces…

**While cutting up the dough, you can discuss knife safety and demonstrate to them how to safely use these sharp instruments.
**When you measure out the sugar, you can discuss different ways you can use the measuring cups to equal one cup.
**Be sure to show them how to level off the measuring spoon of cinnamon so that they can learn that baking requires precision. You can even discuss some of the chemical reactions that they may see in other recipes to help you explain the idea of why precision is important.
**When you melt the butter in the microwave, discuss why a microwave safe bowl is important. Let them know that you never want to put metal into the microwave and tell them why. 
**Show them how to safely handle hot containers of food and explain to them why they need to wait for you to do these parts of the recipe.

Step 4: Once the recipe has been put together, bake it in a 350 degree F oven for 28 minutes. This is the perfect time to ask your kids if they have any questions. They may have questions that can open up a line of communication for you to discuss other things, like what is going on at school, or what they have been learning at friends houses.

Step 5: Once the monkey bread has cooled, be sure that you eat some of it together. By watching you eat something that they made, you are showing them that you appreciate their efforts. You are also showing them that you trust them to be good cooks. I promise you, not only will you and your kids have bonded, but their confidence will definitely be boosted too.

Carmen is the mom of three rambunctious little boys. She blogs about her family’s adventures at Adventures of the Triple B’s, a place for parents with active kids to find comfort in stories that may or may not sound familiar. She uses her background in child development and her own experiences as a mother to offer tips about how to keep active children out of trouble. She talks about how to keep them safe, how to clean up their innumerable messes, and she offers recipes that they may slow down enough to actually eat. If you sometimes stop and ask yourself, “Why me?” especially while your child is scaling the walls, then come on over! Besides finding Carmen on her blog, you can chat directly with her on Twitter,Facebook, or by emailing her at adventuresofthetriplebs@gmail.com.

Filed Under: expert advice, tasty treats