CarrieDaway

One of my favorite things to do is cook but I haven’t been able to do it much since Lucas was born. Now that he’s older, I’m getting back into the kitchen and bringing him with me. This week we took the apples from the orchard and made apple butter and apple rhubarb pie. Lucas was THRILLED to sit on the counter top and help. I cut everything in advanced so he was able to participate every step of the way. Here are the different ways he helped.

• I searched for spices in the pantry and let him carry ingredients to the baking counter.
• After chopping the fruit I put them in three separate bowls and Lucas dumped each bowl into a bigger bowl. Yes it’s a lot of dishes but after having so much fun dumping one bowl he’s ready for another and this way he doesn’t have a fit.
• I let Lucas use a quarter cup to scoop in the 1 cup of flour required. I let him do this directly from the flour container and yes it was messy but it extended the activity and gave us a chance to count to four.
• Once the ingredients were combined I handed over the wood spoon and let him go to town with mixing. Yes, some will end up on the counter but so be it. It is also a great distraction if you need to get an extra ingredient or do something not kid friendly.
• I picked up pastry dough for the top and let him use a shape cutter and place the pieces on top of the pie. Not only was it fun for him but the results were cute too!