MIXING, STIRRING, BAKING WITH GRANDMA

Ashton was able to join in the baking adventure with his Grandma and cousins today making salt dough beads and ornaments. Although he watched for most of the time he found it very interesting and followed everything the girls were doing. As they stirred all of the ingredients together and rolled their dough out on the bench his eyes were focused on the action. He was able to sit and listen to the conversations being had about how the ingredients were changing as they were mixed together. Grandma and the girls were using great words to describe what the mixture looked and felt like . . . gooey and sticky, dry and wet.

Once all of the ingredients were mixed together Ashton got a little more involved as we gave him his own bit of flour and dough to work with. He actually explored the flour in a very similar way to the girls picking up the flour and rubbing it between his fingers, or swishing it around on the bench. Once he got his dough mixture you could really see his little hands working as he squished it and squeezed it through his fingers. (You will see in the photos he has his pacifier in his mouth. . . this is not a usual practice for Ashton. It was there to stop him from wanting to eat the dough . . . although he has started on solids; we’re not that far into solids yet!)

This is the first time I have done any kind of baking with Ashton and I think he really enjoyed playing with and exploring the different texture of the ingredients. It was a new medium for him to explore and utilise his senses . . . I think we may explore some more ingredients to mix and stir throughout the week, and see what other smells and textures we can discover!