Baking with toddler's?!

I believe baking with your little ones from a young age is a great way to introduce them to cooking, getting them involved with the mixing, measuring and decorating of simple bakes such as cupcakes, cookies or pastries is a fun activity and bonding time for you both.

From a young age I had always loved getting involved and helping with the cooking, even if it was just helping Mum out or making rice crispy cakes or something simple like that, when I moved up to secondary school cookery classes where given for two terms a year, two classes a week, we covered all sorts, basic fruit salads to quiches to breads, this is where I really began to love cooking! I loved the sense of achievement of seeing that final product, that I had worked to achieve and going home to show the family.
I started cooking at home a lot more after that, finding recipes online, experimenting with what I could find in the cupboards (not always successful haha) I began to start preparing and making tea for the family whilst my parents were at work to help out where I could and by the time I was 15 I could easily make a good handful of family dishes such as spaghetti bolognaise, simple roast dinners and omelettes. I believe all children of that age should have that knowledge, school's should carry on with food technology cookery lessons for a longer period of time for children to learn those skills. Cookery in my eye's is a basic skill everyone should know, you don't have to love it or be amazing at it, but it's something that everyone will have to do at some point in their lives, Obesity is a rising issue in the UK and other parts of the world and a lot of time it's down to lack of knowledge of foods and using frozen 'bung in the oven' quick fix meals or takeaways.

I feel introducing your children to cooking from a young age will encourage them to carry on as they grow wanting to help you out in the kitchen, this will teach them basic skills and knowledge about food, what goes into their food and you can also teach them a healthy lifestyle that hopefully one day they can pass down to their own children.
My little boy James turned two in December and we have now started to do simple bakes with him when we have a spare afternoon, he loves getting involved and looks very proud of himself at the end when he gets to try what he's made.

I'd love to know what you bake with your little ones and to hear about your experiences with cooking:-)