Little hands make light work of specialty cookies
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- December
- 22
I was watching my oldest putter around the kitchen making mini cheesecakes for an upcoming party a few days ago, an activity that recalled to mind a photograph of her baking shortly after we moved to the East Coast.
She was standing on a chair, her hair tied back, an apron draped over her sweatshirt and pants and dropping past her feet, a rolling pin in hand, flour on her nose and a look of concentration on her face. She was contemplating a round of dough she had just been working on, the family specialty cookie we only seem to make at this time of year.
Judging by the kitchen, I’m thinking she had just turned 5 years old, since her birthday is in early December. And judging by the look of the dough, she was familiar with a rolling pin and how to use one.
Cookie-making is one of those kitchen activities that work well with small children. The physical work — whether it’s putting thumb prints in dough, using a rolling pin, grinding nuts, mixing sugar and cinnamon or measuring milk or honey — is usually easy to divide into jobs even the smallest child can do. Even accidents usually don’t mean more than a mess, provided the youngest children are kept away from the hot stove or oven.
There is some debate about the right age to introduce small children to kitchen work. At least in our family, preschool age seemed to be the right time. Just a thought.
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm by Randi Weiner.
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