This month, the children got to make chocolate cupcakes. The ingredients we used were: a full box of chocolate mix, three eggs, one cup oil, and one cup water. Audrey, Austin, and Elliot helped put in the chocolate mix, then Elliot and Austin helped crack the eggs and put them in. Gurnaaz helped pour in the oil and Seerat helped put in the water. Finally, Claire S helped to mix it all together.
During the cupcake making Audrey and Austin wondered how much of each ingredient we should be putting in the mixture, leading us to talk about measurements as we measured each ingredient in order to put in the right amount. I also asked the children if they’ve helped with baking at home with their families; some children said they did and some said they didn’t.
I noticed that the children were doing an excellent job at waiting for each other to put in the ingredients instead of fighting and grabbing the measuring cups out of each other’s hands, displaying patience and turn taking. It appeared as if all the children that participated enjoyed baking, while Philippe enjoyed watching the children make the cupcakes. Some children wanted to eat the batter but I informed them that it is not safe to eat raw food as it had eggs in it and can make us sick. This experience made us think of different things to learn and bake.
Although baking with the children takes longer than doing it ourselves as educators, we learned that it doesn’t matter how long it takes to make cupcakes with the children, what matters is that everyone that wanted to participate got the chance to do so and that we all had fun. From this activity, children can learn life skills such as baking, math measurements, and turn taking.
