Fun Playdate Activities for Girls

by Emily Pattee on October 16th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

There is something about creativity and baking that is so appealing to little girls, no matter their age. So when my daughter and 2 of her friends came in for an after-school playdate, they were tickled pink to see the EasyBake Oven and the Microwave and Style Deluxe Delights Cake and Cookie Kit from Hasbro waiting for them. They couldn't wait to empty everything onto the counter, don aprons and get mixing!

We began by making a yellow cake in the traditional Easy Bake oven. Immediately we smacked right into science, as the girls explored how a light bulb could be used as a heat source. The directions for the cake were simple and easy to follow, but it was challenging for the girls to mix the batter because there was so little water. (I had to step in and help with most of the mixing for everything we made.) When it came time to "pour" the batter into the cake pan, I knew we had somehow gone awry! Our cake batter was obviously too stiff and the cake ended up looking more like a cookie!

Of course, the girls didn't care at all, and once they got the frosting on and the cake in their mouths, they were ready to move on to the cookie kit!

I really liked that this set uses your microwave instead of requiring their traditional oven. I can remember when I was a kid feigning indifference to the EasyBake oven because I knew there was no way I was ever getting one. Now Hasbro has expanded kids' access to creativity in the kitchen with microwavable cakes and cookies (I wish they had developed the microwave line back then, but I suppose as they were still developing the microwave, one ought to be forgiving on this point.)

The directions were again very simple, and the tools have an interesting design. Hasbro has done a great job catching the potential frustration areas of this product and nullifying them. The measuring spoons have been assigned designs instead of measurements, which can sometimes be confusing for little bakers. My favorite kid-friendly tool was the rolling pin. It has different ends you can snap on that vary the height, creating the perfect thickness for the cookie dough.

Again, our cookies looked a lot different than the perfect ones pictured on the box when they came out of the microwave. The dough was incredibly sticky as we rolled it out, so it took a lot of powdered sugar dusting to keep it off of the counter and our hands, so that may have affected the consistency.

The fondant, molds and decorating were the "icing on the cake" for the girls. A little pressing, lifting, and voila! Beautiful! When everyone went home, I mentioned to my daughter that one of the neighbor boys was interested in trying the oven, too, so she called his mother and left a message offering to let them borrow ours. And that was the icing on my cake.

Disclosure: Hasbro provided the toys. The squeals of delight? Provided by the girls!

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Emily Pattee has a degree in English; is an avid reader, writer, and crafter; is mom to four children; and lives with her family in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Utah. She's an active volunteer at her children's school and at her church and someday hopes to go to law school. Her husband's goal for her? To write a best-selling novel!