If you’re keen to get your kids involved in the kitchen but you’re not sure where to start, here’s our guide to what baking activities different aged children can help with, or try themselves.

Baking with your kids is not just a fun activity to do together. It's a chance to share knowledge and teach new skills, encourage creativity and teach them about food. There’s also a fair bit of trial and error involved in baking, which is in itself a really valuable life lesson. Then of course there is the sense of pride in ‘making’ something of your very own; especially when it is something delicious that you can share with friends and family.  

If you’re wondering how to get your kids involved in baking, here is a guide to what activities they can get involved with or skills they can learn, by age. Different children will of course vary in ability, so this is just a guide- always use your own judgement. And remember that children are never too young to learn the importance of using a kitchen safely and understand the dangers of a hot pan or a sharp knife, and even older children require supervision when baking.

We’ve also shared a couple of our favourite baking recipes to make with kids. Simple to make and as mess-free as possible, all these sweet treats can be made using your stand mixer- which does definitely help contain a lot of the spills and splatters. Although let’s face it, when it comes to baking with kids, a bit of mess is pretty much inevitable.

It’s never too early to get your children to roll up their sleeves, don an apron and get in the kitchen. For toddlers and preschoolers a baking session is an exciting way for them to explore new tastes, smells and sensations, and basically have fun. Happy experiences shared with you in the kitchen at this age will hopefully be the first step in helping them develop a really positive relationship with food and cooking, as well as some important life skills.

Break a recipe down into stages and choose quick, easy-win tasks that they can help you with, such as adding pre-measured ingredients to a mixing bowl, stirring a mixture, using a measuring spoon, brushing pastry with egg, cutting out dough or sprinkling decorations on a cake.

Obviously very young children will require constant supervision and need to be set up at a safe distance from any hazards. Most will not have the attention span to see a recipe through from start to finish but feed their enthusiasm for new experiences by encouraging them to get stuck in, and embrace the chaos!

Budding chefs aged between 6-8 years may now be ready to be introduced to slightly more advanced baking processes and equipment, and will have the reading skills to follow a simple recipe or measure out ingredients using scales.

Read through the recipe together and ask them to help you get all the ingredients and any equipment you need ready. Encourage them to develop a ‘safety-first’ attitude in the kitchen and make them aware of potential hazards as you try and give them more opportunities to perform tasks with less supervision. Good age-appropriate baking activities include cracking eggs, greasing and lining cake tins, sieving flour and icing and decorating cakes and biscuits.

If they’ve done a bit of baking at home with you or perhaps at school, older kids (aged 9-12) may want to start getting more involved in choosing new recipes to try out and work more independently. As they hit the teenage years they may want to take ownership of baking a family birthday cake or special meal. Even older children will require some supervision to prevent accidents, but where possible try to step back and let them give it a go.

Guide them through any new techniques and if you feel they are ready show them how to safely use the oven and hob, along with any appliances such as stand mixers, while clearly pointing out any safety concerns they need to be mindful of.

Kids this age may feel comfortable following a simple recipe independently, and performing tasks such as melting chocolate or butter, operating a stand mixer, rolling out dough or decorating biscuits with a piping bag. Just be on hand in case they need you to step in at any point.

Whether you’re baking with a toddler or a teen, kids of all ages will love making, decorating and eating these tasty treats, which are all simple to make with a little help from your Kenwood products:

S'mores doughnuts
Dipped in a rich chocolate glaze and topped with toasted marshmallow meringue and crumbled biscuit, these doughnuts may take a while to make (due to the time needed to prove the dough), but there are plenty of tasks the kids can help with, like melting the butter, rolling the dough and using the stand mixer to mix the ingredients. And we guarantee they’ll enjoy the end result.

Salted Caramel Popcorn Squares
Kids will love measuring out the ingredients for these delicious no-bake fridge cakes, which are so quick and easy to make using your stand mixer. It only takes a couple of minutes to combine all the ingredients before you transfer them to a tray ready to chill. The real test will be whether they can wait long enough for them to set- luckily you can make them in advance.

Speculoos blondies
Everyone will love these gooey, chewy treats, and they take just ten minutes to prepare for baking when you use your Titanium Chef Patissier XL’s EasyWarm bowl to melt the chocolate-making this recipe perfect for even short attention spans. 

Jam tarts
Even very little ones can get involved with making these fail-safe family favourites. Get them to cut out the pastry or hand them a spoon and let them dollop the jam into the individual pastry cases. Perfect to bake for kids’ parties or a tea- time treat. 

Berry pizza
From shaping the dough to assembling all the toppings, this berry-topped dessert pizza recipe gets kids involved at every stage, and is a great way to introduce them to new baking concepts and processes.  

You can find more family-friendly baking recipe inspiration here.