Sourdough Sunday

I would suggest having him take part in the kneading or mixing and then remind him later that he helped. I have found my own kids at that age were better able to focus on short projects like cookies. Even then in short batches. Any time you can spend with them is a blessing. Have fun with it.

Eric

Have him shape the dough into rolls.  If he wets his hands (almost sopping wet), the dough will tend to not stick.  He actually may be better than you at not getting the dough to stick to his hands.  So it can be fun to work as a team, you cutting out roughly equal pieces of dough and him stretching and tucking them into balls and placing them on the sheet (or whatever surface you will use to bake)

Also, you can place the dough balls like this (or another creative shape)

and enjoy watching them bake.

My 7-year-old loves my breads, not only to eat but also to play with.  I started doing some bread sculptures with him two weeks ago.  We (more like I) made the dough then let him play with it.  We have so far made a dinosaur, frog, Santa, turtle, and last week, Sourdough Fred (just a person's head).  He has been asking to create friends and families for Sourdough Fred so we probably will do some this weekend.  I don't expect my son to be able to handle a dough by himself but the more he touches the dough the more he knows how it's supposed to feel like.  Maybe he will want to try it on his own in the future.  But for now, we're just having fun.

If the dough is too slack and sticky, she can't shape it easily so she just plays, but when she can we bake her creation.  She likes to decorate them with sprinkles and cinammon sugar and that's fine. 

She can stir and help measure ingredients, too. 

She loves to watch my sourdough english muffins puff up on the griddle. 

My boy is now 3, and has been "helping" me with my bread making for the last year! He adores it, and knows that on the weekend when Dad's home it must be time to make "bed".

Give them a little piece to play with whilst you knead, then a little piece to stretch when (if) you check the windowpane, give them a piece to roll aroudn whilst you shape, then put it in the oven when you bake. My son loves getting his little "loaf" out and eating it as soon as it's cool enough to go in his mouth!

It's incredible what a child that young understands - I've explained about yeast and how they come alive to make the dough rise, now when we leave it for primary, he tells me how we're leaving the bowl to come back to life!

Cooking with my kids is the best thing I do on the weekends.