Bake This Easy Recipe for Flapjacks to Teach Your Kids STEM

Whip up a batch of this easy recipe for flapjacks to teach your little ones important skills like math, science, technology, and engineering!

We have another wonderful learning post today – this time from Gemma at Mummy’s Waisted. Don’t forget to check out the other posts within our 31 Days of Learning series. In this post, Gemma teaches us how this this easy flapjack recipe can help kids learn.

I’ve always enjoyed baking and cooking with my children, now aged 4 and 7. Even from a young age, getting children involved in the kitchen has so many benefits, and not just for the tasty treats you make!

I’ve been testing out some different flapjack recipes with my children, both from a desire to make fairly healthy snacks, but also because there are lots of STEM-related conversations to have.

How Baking Can Teach Children Life Skills

There are so many ways to teach kids important life skills in the kitchen! Here are a few of the STEM skills they’ll learn by baking these sweet treats.

Maths

I’ll start with maths because this is the easiest to practice when baking. Depending on what you’re making, there’s a great deal of precision required and using scales is brilliant for this. You can start off with younger children recognising numbers and then progress on to easy addition for older children. My son particularly loves it when we have too much of an ingredient, and he has to work out how much to take away. You can also work with multiples, such as how much a number of tablespoons makes as a total, and fractions when you cut up the finished product.

Science

There’s lots of practical applications for science in baking. When we made flapjacks, one of the recipes involved melting butter, honey and chopped dates over boiling water, so my son and I talked about which would melt first, and why. We also looked about the consistency and texture of the uncooked ingredients versus the finished flapjacks, and why it had changed during the time in the oven.

Technology

Baking is a great way to safely expose your children to kitchen equipment, and its dangers. Obviously you will need to closely supervise, but having a discussion about your oven, hob or microwave and how they work can set them on a useful path for later life. Safe knife skills as also good to practice.

Engineering

This can be the trickiest subject in the kitchen but there are some ways to incorporate it. You could talk about choosing the right dish or tin for cooking your creations in, or working out how different quantities or thicknesses of flapjack will cook in comparison to each other.

How to Make This Easy Recipe for Flapjacks

Now that you know why this recipe is so helpful, let’s get baking! These are the sticky gooey type of flapjacks and you can add extra dry ingredients, like chocolate chips, to this recipe. This amount makes 10-12 squares, depending on how big you cut them!

Equipment

To make this basic flapjack recipe, you’ll need a bowl or food processor and a square baking tin.

Ingredients

• Porridge oats – The jumbo oats work especially well.
• Melted butter or margarine – This will make your oat bars taste heavenly!
• Sugar – Muscavado gives a great taste.
• Lyle’s golden syrup – This syrup will help holds the ingredients together. They’re also great with maple syrup or agave syrup.

Instructions

• Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or pulse in a food mixer.
• Line your 20cm x 20cm square tin with parchment paper
• Pour your oat mixture into the prepared tin and press down well with your hands or the back of a spoon.
• Bake at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for 15 minutes
• Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
• Cut into bars and enjoy.

Storage

Store your cut flapjacks in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. If they start to get stale, break them up into chunks and toast them in the oven to become granola.

How to Serve

These traditional flapjacks are a lovely treat on their own! Enjoy them like a granola bar for a quick burst of energy. They’re also delicious with some yogurt or fresh fruits for breakfast or at afternoon tea.

What’s the difference between American and English flapjacks?

To our American readers, this classic flapjack recipe might seem quite confusing. Unlike the American flapjack which is essentially a pancake, English flapjacks are more like a granola bar!

They really couldn’t be much more different.

Tips for Baking Flapjacks with Kids

Your little ones can help with every step of this flapjacks recipe.

• Have them line the tin with baking paper.
• Invite them to scoop out all the dry ingredients, the quick cooking oats and demerara sugar, using measuring cups.
• Help them gently melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave.
• Show them how to measure the syrup mixture to get just the right amount.
• Give them a wooden spoon or rubber spatula so they can combine the flapjack mixture in a bowl.
• Wet their hands and use them to press down the oat mixture without sticking.

The next time you get a chance, break out the oats and make this traditional flapjack recipe for a sweet treat and a learning opportunity!

We are sure you will love both the recipes and the fun to be had within the kitchen from these wonderful recipes, and STEM ideas. Do pop along to Gemma’s blog, Mummy’s Waisted, to check out some of the other articles and ideas she has too.

We’ve got lots of other great ideas for STEM activities on the site, so do check them out.

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See you again soon!

Helen

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