Kids love cookies, so it’s only natural that they would want to help make the delicious treats. Parents are often reluctant to let their kids help out in the kitchen, which is a surefire way to make a mess, as well as potentially dangerous. However, cooking teaches kids many valuable lessons—such as math skills, fine motor development, critical thinking and decision-making skills, and life and self-help skills. Creativity and confidence can also develop within the kitchen.

But how should kids participate? Obviously the oven and stove are out, since they are probably the most dangerous aspects of cooking in general; sharp knives and other objects may also be ruled out for younger children. That said, there’s plenty for kids to do in the cookie-making process.

Pouring and Stirring: What kid doesn’t like dumping something from one container into another? Even young children can help with this, though older ones may even be able to measure out ingredients. Help show them to read and add measuring cups, as well as to use a leveler and to look at ingredient measurements at eye-level. When your child takes chemistry one day, he will thank you for helping him be ahead of the class with this important skill.

Decorating: Decorating cookies is almost always a kid-friendly activity! From sprinkles to candies, making faces with frosting to shaping with cookie cutters, decorating provides an opportunity for fine motor use, creativity, and to develop a familiarity with cookie cutters and other instruments. Plus, once the cookies are finished, they’ll have a sense of pride eating something that they’ve personally decorated—just be sure to watch their faces when they first see how much their creation has changed just by being placed in the oven!

Cleanup: Who better to lick the bowl than your kids? Cleaning up helps teach very important self-help skills. It’s important to teach cooking cleanup just like any other chore—with as much enthusiasm as you can possibly muster. The more fun you make it, the more fun they have—and the more likely they will do it again.

Though kids can help out with just about any cookie recipe, chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter and other basic recipes are particularly good for kids to get their hands in. No-bake cookies such as oatmeal, marshmallow treats, and chocolate drops are also great, as they don’t require the oven and kids can help with almost the whole process.