Today’s play-of-the-day is a favorite activity for this time of year, baking Christmas cookies with kids. What’s the top cookie at your house? And why do we leave cookies for Santa?
I don’t know about your FB feed, but there were and still are lots of posts for baking cookies yesterday and today. From all over, one side of the continent to the other. Is it something in the air? This must be more than the Baking Fairy sprinkling flour dust.
Baking cookies is a highly sensory activity. While it’s mostly hands that are involved in the sense of touch, there are so many different textures and sensations. The dry flour, the slippery batter, and thick dough are just a few. The spices fill the air with scents, especially the one of cookies in the oven. Conversations, spoons clanking against the bowl, and music in the background stimulate the sense of hearing. Our eyes follow all the action especially the one of watching for slight changes to tell us the cookies are done. The best is coming, tasting the fresh, warm cookies.
Perhaps, with all the impact on our hearts and minds, we are craving a physical activity. It’s not a vigorous, demanding task, but it involves lots of muscles on a more gentle basis. Of course, minds are busy too and there is a layer of remembering for our hearts, of baking cookies over the years. Of connecting with people who are important to us, especially if we can only visit them in our memories.
We know kids are definitely attracted to sensory activities. They also crave the feeling of belonging and are proud they are considered grown up enough to help. There’s learning too in a way that is highly relevant. Knowing how to make cookies comes with it’s own wonderfully delicious prize.
Baking Christmas cookies with kids contains many extra ingredients. Thinking about all of this, it’s no wonder cookies are the treat we leave for Santa Claus. What kind do you leave on the plate?