“Hello all my friends. I’m glad you came to play. Our fun and learning never ends. Here’s what we did today”

— Barney & Friends

Yesterday, Me and Casey Baked some sugar Cookies together and she loved it so much by using simple-yet-delicious sugar cookie recipe. Sensory play is kinda messy but I love every aspect of it. So welcome to a real SENSORY COOKIE ACTIVITY. It takes longer than you think to do with a 2 year old but so much worth the exercise and the time. You gonna love it! After watching an episode of Barney & Friends, I couldn’t wait to get the perfect recipe and bake cookies with Casey Ann, Afterall it is Easter. What a treat it was…

She loves getting to work beside me, and I love getting to use these opportunities to teach her about food and kitchen safety, measuring, and following directions while making something that’s not stressful if we don’t “get it right.”

And this cookie dough recipe will turn out right, even if you don’t level off the measuring cup! After the amazing morning we had together I realised what the amazing sensory benefits of baking with Kids.

Baking and cooking are sensory activities that utilize all five senses—touch, taste, smell, look, and sound. Sensory play is important for brain development as well as language and social development. For individuals with special needs, engaging the senses can be very useful for calming anxiety and frustration. With this recipe, we have a few suggested adjustments for your child depending on if they seek more sensory input or if they like avoid sensory input.

What toddler or baby doesn’t love getting messy with their food?

Sensory play is so good for toddlers and babies. Sensory play doesn’t have to be complicated to get all the wonderful benefits. I try to use what I have and keep it simple. That’s one reason this Toddler and Baby Cookie Sensory Play is our go-to activity for an easy, edible, engaging activity.

I really don’t like discouraging my toddler from being an active part in this activity so if it gets messy, I really don’t care that much, because I can tell she is taking it all in as she is making a mess! And that’s how she learn and make connections.

If they seek more sensory input:

Use an electric mixer or, if you have a stand mixer, have them put their hand on the mixer while it’s running.
Add a citrus extract or zest to the dough and encourage them to smell it.
Right before the dough finishes coming together, have them use their hands to finish bringing all the pieces of dough together. Let them roll the dough into balls with their hands (two big balls when you need to split the dough or skip the cookie cutters and have them roll the dough into 2-inch balls before baking)

If they seek less sensory input:

Avoid the electric mixers and have them mix everything by hand. Make sure your butter is very soft for this (microwave for a few seconds if needed).
Have them use gloves when touching the dough.
Avoid touching the dough if needed. They can mix it completely with a tool, roll it out with a rolling pin, and, when they cut the cookies, they can use a spatula to lift them onto the cookie sheet.

Benefits of Baking With Kids

Baking with kids can be lots of fun and rather messy! But among all the mess, there are so many benefits that kids gain from the whole baking experience.

This article looks specifically at some of the ways a child's school skills can benefit from the whole baking experience. In addition, don't forget how special it can be for a child to spend time creating memories with you!

Bilateral Coordination
Eye-Hand Coordination
Hand Strengthening
Spatial Perception and Planning Skills
Doing Math while Baking!

How Cooking Can Help Preschoolers ( Ages 2-5 years )

Most toddlers and preschoolers love to help with baking. They are enthusiastically hands-on and enjoy stirring, kneading, and scooping batter into baking pans. Encourage them to use their senses — smell spices like cinnamon, touch flour, and even taste an ingredient before it goes into the mixing bowl. Children this age will need a lot of help from you. Most don’t have the dexterity to measure accurately, or the reading ability (or attention span) to follow a recipe from beginning to end. But give them lots of opportunities to dump ingredients into the mixing bowl and stir. This simple activity will bring them a lot of joy.

Bringing kids into the kitchen can benefit them in a number of ways. Cooking can help:

Build basic skills. You can help your child hone basic math skills by doing something as simple as counting eggs or pouring water into a measuring cup. You can ask what comes first, second, and third or count together as you spoon dough onto a cookie sheet. When you read a recipe together, you're introducing new words to your child's vocabulary and promoting literacy. Following steps in the recipe can work on listening skills.
Encourage an adventurous palate. Preschoolers are notoriously picky eaters, and bringing them into the kitchen to cook can help get them to open up to new tastes. When your 3-year-old daughter plays chef she might sample dishes she wouldn't try if you just served them to her. So encourage kids to taste new ingredients you're working with and talk about what they like and how healthy foods make a body grow.
Help young kids explore with their senses. Kids learn by exploring with their senses and the kitchen is an ideal place to do that. Invite them to listen to the whir of the mixer, pound dough and watch it rise, smell it baking in the oven, and finally taste the warm bread fresh from the oven. If it smells good, looks appealing, and is easy to eat they may just be willing to try it!
Boost confidence. Preschoolers love to show what they can do and working in the kitchen provides opportunities to gain a sense of accomplishment. If they helped assemble the pizza, let them know that their help was important. You could name the pizza or another dish after your child. Serve "Will's Pizza" or "Ella's Salad" for dinner tonight. Even if the end results are not exactly what you expected, praise their efforts.

THE BEST
SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

I have found The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe ever and we couldn’t wait to share it so that everyone can have super yummy homemade sugar cookies.

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED

2 Cups Butter: Sweet Cream Salted butter, softened to room temperature.

2 Cups Sugars: You will need Granulated Sugar for the cookie dough.

2 Egg: Large, room temperature eggs.

2 tbsp Vanilla Extract: vanilla makes everything taste better.

4 tsp. Baking Powder: to help create a soft cookie that keeps its shape and has a little bit of rise.

6 cups Flour: I use All-Purpose Flour for these cookies.

Instructions

Add butter and sugar to your mixer. Cream the butter and sugar until it is completely mixed. Do not over-mix.
Add vanilla and eggs and mix until completely incorporated.
Add Baking Powder and mix.
Mix in the flour two cups at a time.
Do not chill the dough, the cookies will bake better if the dough is at room temperature.
Roll a handful of the dough out on a prepared surface until it's about 3/8" thick and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Do not over-bake.
Frost with The Best Buttercream Frosting

HOW TO MAKE THE SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH

Add the 4 sticks (2 cups) of butter and 2 cups of white sugar to your mixer. A word about the butter, I use Sweet Cream Salted Butter when I am baking and I think it tastes great with these sugar cookies too. The butter needs to be softened but still cold. A prime culprit for dry sugar cookie dough is butter than is too warm and soft. I let the butter sit out on the counter for just under an hour before I start making the cookies – this seems to be the perfect amount of time for me. The butter is still cold to the touch but you can press into the stick with your fingers. In the past, when in a rush, I have softened the butter in the microwave but inevitably the dough that I get is on the “crumbly” side.
Cream the butter and sugar until it is completely mixed.
Add 2 tablespoons of vanilla and 2 eggs. I know that sounds like a lot of vanilla but this recipe needs a little extra moisture and the cookies will taste great.
Mix the cookie dough until light and fluffy.

Add 4 teaspoons of Baking Powder and mix.
Mix in the 6 cups of flour two cups at a time.
This is what the dough should look like after you have added the 6 cups of Flour. The flour should be completely incorporated and the dough should be firm but not dry or crumbly. If the dough seems drier than this, add a tiny bit of vanilla or milk (start with a teaspoon) and mix again. You do not need to chill this dough before cutting out the cookies. In fact, the cookies come out best if the dough hasn’t been chilled.

ROLLING AND CUTTING OUT THE COOKIES

Roll a handful of the dough out on a prepared surface until it’s about 3/8″ thick.
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

BAKING INSTRUCTIONS

Bake at 180 degrees for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Do not over-bake! I like thicker sugar cookies so they will hold a good amount of frosting. If you make your cookies on the thick side as I have done in the pictures here, you should cook them 9-10 minutes but not much longer. They might not look done to you but they are. Take them out of the oven. You don’t want them to start browning around the edges the way you would with Chocolate Chip Cookies for example. Over-baking is the prime culprit if you feel your sugar cookies seem dry. If you roll out thinner cookies, or use smaller cookie cutters than the ones we have used here, you should only bake the cookies 6 or 7 minutes.

This recipe will make a lot of cookies but the actual number depends on the size of the cookie cutters you are using. Using these large-ish cookie cutters, I made 25 cookies. If you only need a couple of cookies, you can cut this recipe in half.

These cookies taste amazing and they really hold their shape. And most importantly, they don’t poof up too much or flatten out into a cookie blob.

FROSTING YOUR SUGAR COOKIES

Let your cookies cool and then they are ready for frosting. The frosting is easy to color and tastes so delicious and yummy on these Sugar Cookies.

Ingredients & Directions

500g Royal icing. Flooding Consistency
120ml - 140 ml warm water
5ml Flavouring.
Piping Consistency. 200g royal icing , 60 ml warm water, 2.5ml flavouring. Put Royal icing and warm water in bowl with electric mixer. Beat on slow speed for 8 min and add flavour.