大象传媒

Try not to let the words 鈥榖aking with kids鈥� fill you with terror. Along with experimenting with pots of brightly-coloured paint, tubes of glue and tubs of glitter, and maybe a set of felt-tip pens (which inevitably end up making their mark on everything except the paper provided), the thought of letting toddlers and young children do certain creative activities in your home seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Okay, so with toddlers, there鈥檚 a very high chance that they will make a big mess. My advice would be to avoid or limit such activities, if you鈥檙e of a nervous disposition or stressed out, and especially if you鈥檙e about to move house (as I was earlier this year). Nice clean carpets and walls + paint, glue, glitter, inky pens or cake mixture + prospective buyers coming to view your home = not a good combination.听

But once they are around the age of three, don鈥檛 underestimate your child鈥檚 ability to focus on the task in hand and have a fantastic learning experience. I鈥檓 feeling a lot more relaxed about letting my daughter wield a gloopy paintbrush, or crack eggs and sift flour, as she did the other day. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like how they do things on 鈥業 Can Cook鈥� 听on Cbeebies,鈥� 听she announced proudly, standing on her little chair beside me as the contents of her sieve whirled around us.听

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I think I was a little older than her when I was allowed to help my mum in the kitchen, but I have fond memories of assisting her 鈥� whether it was dolloping out the cake mixture into the tin (and gleefully licking the spatula afterwards) or carving out squares of a super-sweet, chewy treat we dubbed 鈥楽ticky Wicky鈥� (melted toffee slabs, margarine, marshmallows and Rice Krispies). YUM!听

I guess the latter is probably not the healthiest thing you could make with your child. But it was a great way of introducing us to the concept that cooking could be really fun and we could invent our own recipes. Having a daughter myself, that鈥檚 what I want her to experience too - along with the knowledge that you also need to eat a balanced diet.

We often make a compromise when it comes to being healthy, so the home-made flapjacks we bake together have less sugar and fat than the recipe states and more oats, plus added ingredients like dried apricots. We bake this delicious light sponge which is made using whisked egg whites rather than butter, and we place fresh raspberries on top rather than smothering it with jam. We鈥檝e added grated carrots and cream cheese to muffins to create a savoury version, and when it was Hallowe鈥檈n we used some of the hollowed-out pumpkin flesh for the filling in a quiche. 听

Children love stuff that鈥檚 hands-on and getting their fingers covered in edible goo is a bonus. And it鈥檚 a good way to fill what can sometimes feel like a very long afternoon with a young child, especially now it鈥檚 dark earlier and you鈥檙e more confined to your home. Plus, it鈥檚 a good way to impart a life-long skill which will come in handy as they grow up. At least, I鈥檓 hoping it will...听

And it can sometimes raise cash for a good cause. With 大象传媒 Children In Need 听approaching (although I never really need an excuse to bake cakes), the Little Lady and I might well be taking up the Get Baking challenge听and rustling up a few goodies to sell at her nursery. There are some really good tips and 听if you fancy setting up a bake sale. I think we might try out the recipes for banana bread and lemon drizzle muffins, and perhaps the chocolate brownies. Mmmm. Plus, if you have a younger child take a look at the Grown-ups pages听on the Cbeebies site for a few other ideas.

Good luck and I鈥檒l let you know how we get on. I鈥檝e got a feeling I will be the one licking the spatula, not the Little Lady...

Joanna Youngs is a member of the 大象传媒 Parent Panel.

Read Katy Ashworth's blog听on cooking with very young children on the 大象传媒 Food site.

Check out the , 听featuring recipes from Great British Bake Off.

Find out how to set up a bake sale with .

Fancy ?听It's an activity the children will enjoy too.

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