The Best Lesson in the World for Kids: Baking

Baking is not only fun, engaging, and educational for children, it is something you can do together. And you get to eat the results!

I love children and always have. Three decades or so ago, when I was trying everything to have children of my own, my close friend and colleague Elizabeth Karmel sympathized and compassionately suggested that she would share her nephew August for me to give a class in baking cookies. He was only about 4 years old, but she said he was exceptionally bright, so I should try it. And cookies are an ideal starter for learning baking because they are more forgiving, and the small size makes it relatable. She bought him my Rose’s Christmas Cookies book, and the class was a great success. It went on to become a yearly tradition, and soon, he was joined by his younger brothers.

I had a degree in teaching at the high school level from NYU. But the classes for those three young boys were what taught me the exceptional value of teaching baking to kids. I learned that it teaches so many essential life lessons: art, science (the value of weighing), patience, math, sharing, and love. And as extra motivation, they get to lick spatulas, eat the final results, and share them with friends. They ended up licking the spatulas so enthusiastically, they destroyed several by biting through them!

Two special teaching experiences happened a few years later when my then-8-year-old nephew Alexander arrived from San Francisco, California, to stay with me for a week. The one dictate my brother Michael imposed was that I make sure he read every day. After a few days, he called and asked if Alex was reading. “Oh, yes,” was my response. “How did you get him to read?” asked my brother. My response: “All I had to do was read myself and he wanted to do whatever it was that I was doing. I didn’t even have to ask him to read.” He had grabbed the book he had already read several times and sat right next to me! The power of learning by example was the lesson for us grown-ups!

The second memorable lesson took place that week when I was making my dad’s favorite cherry pie for his annual visit. Alex wanted to help, but I explained that my dad only gets this pie once a year and I wanted it to be perfect. Immediately, I felt bad to have discouraged Alex, so I handed him a small piece of dough with which to do whatever he pleased. After shaping it, he examined his pastry somewhat askance and resignedly said, “I guess I’m no pastry chef.” That made me feel even worse, but then inspiration struck! I got out a small, fluted tart pan and told him to press the dough into it and fill it with a little of the cherry pie filling. Alex put his own touch on it, shaping a little of the dough into balls to decorate the top.

That afternoon, my dad arrived, and we had company. We were all eating the cherry pie on the porch, and I handed Alex his baked tart and a plate and told him to invert the tart onto it. He lifted off the tart pan to reveal the beautiful tart shaped by the pan. His eyes widened in surprised delight and then he did something he normally would never have done in front of company. He gave me a huge hug. Oh—I forgot to add to my list of things baking teaches kids! It is, perhaps, the most important lesson of all: empowerment and self-confidence!

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