We started by taking a nature walk and collecting fall leaves in the neighborhood. We took these home and pasted them with colorful feathers and paper from our craft box to make place mats. After running through a laminating machine, we now have place mats that we used at Thanksgiving and will continue to use for special occasions.
My husband and I did most of our prep throughout the week (crust-less sweet potato pie, chicken apple sausage stuffing, and haricot verts with almonds made the night before) and saved the mashed potatoes, apple bread and crescent rolls and salad for the day of with the kids. Mom handled the turkey which was delicious with a white wine basting base – no kids near the oven.
Already experienced chefs, the boys donned their aprons (gifts from Aunt Kim with football and baseball ornamentation and their names in the most perfect fabric ink ever) and pulled their chairs up the counter and we got to work!
Some good activities for kids in the kitchen:
· Using/assisting with the potato ricer: the boys really liked using the potato ricer (also one of my favorite kitchen gadgets) on the boiled potatoes and watching the “potato rain” come out the bottom.
· Measuring ingredients: when using a measuring cup, the boys tell me when I’ve poured ingredients to the height of the desired line, and they can use measuring spoons and cups with minimal assistance
· Pouring the measured items into the mixing bowl (sometimes we’ll use two so each boy can stir independently)
· Mixing with a spoon, fork or spatula
· Making bread in a bread maker: this one’s super easy – we just dump the ingredients and push the button
When the kids eventually lost interest, I brought out the arts and crafts kit (see post on the Alex Big Box of Crafts). We made paper chains in autumnal colors to decorate our windows and arch ways inside, and also traced our hands to make handprint-turkeys to decorate and post on the front door to give our guests a big welcome.
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