I have been wanting to start this Cook and Book idea for quite some time but have been stuck in Holiday cooking and crafting instead, plus I was worried that my kiddos may not be quite ready yet to start cooking with me.  But now they are 3 years old and have been lingering around the kitchen table too long not to help out.  Therefore finally I present to you Cook and Book where we read books on a specific cooking subject and then kids and I cook.  No we do not read cook books, just stories.  Let’s have a look shell we?

We decided to make soup since it is getting cold outside

The kiddos cut all the soft vegetables like mushrooms and zucchini with a plastic knife

No worries about any nicks and cuts instead a great way to teach your kids what side of a knife to use

They also tasted veggies they may not otherwise try.

We Read:

Soup Day by Mellissa Iwai- a cute book ab0ut young girl going grocery shopping and cooking vegetable soup with her mom.

You can also add a stone into your soup or just read few varieties of Stone Soup:

A classic tale by Marcia Brown tells a story of Soldiers traveling through the village and making a soup out of stones, with an addition of a little bit of this or that.

A Chinese take on the European tale, the soldiers have turned into Buddhist Monks to teach us all the value of sharing.

Mexican Variation of the Stone Soup calls for single Cactus Thorn to be thrown at the base.  Just in case you want to forget the entire veggie soup idea and go for Tortilla Soup instead.

Whatever soup you decide to make there is a Stone Soup book just for that.  Soups made with nails , buttons or for Halloween bones.  Soups from Brazil , China or really anywhere else.  Heck there is even a guide on how to use this book in the classroom if you need more ideas.

Personally I made “clean up my fridge” soup.  Diced 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks and sauteed in 1 tbs olive oil added 6 cups of veggie stock and all the vegetables found in my fridge.  Meaning: potatoes, sugar peas, zucchini, mushrooms and some left over chicken.  Once the soup boils, lower the heat to simmer and cook for about 15 min or until the potatoes are tender.  You can add your favorite pasta, herbs like parsley or thyme but I left it plain.

So get yourself a library card and join us for Cook and Book sessions.

Since the big Turkey is being served soon the last thing we want to think about is how to occupy our kids when we cook, clean, prepare.  Yes they can help out but we all know what that really means:

A.  Taking twice or three times as much longer then it should

B.  Ending up with much more dirtier house and kids which then will need a bath or at least a hose down

So here are some great ideas from local preschool on how to entertain kids with things you most likely have in our household:

They used trays and storage containers to set up a fun play station

My daughters favorite was moving the pasta wheels with a cute “spoon” to their containers.  These are tiny spice spoons but use any spoon your children are not used to.  The more festive the better and since this is the time to dust off your silverware you may find something interesting.

Use rubber bands and pasta spoon to move “spaghetti” from one side to the other

Use tweezers to move fuzz balls from one container to the other.  If you do not have colorful balls use cotton balls

Marbles and soap suction cups.  This may be tough since I do not know anyone who uses those soap mats anymore and you do need marbles but you can use round cereal.  As long as you are using the ice cube thongs the kids will enjoy moving anything.

Place buttons in the slot.  Empty an old yogurt container, clean, make a slot and give kids buttons different shape and sizes to place in there.

Make sand from small cereal (like rice crispies) or grain like rice or barley.  Have kids use paint brushes and sandbox shovels to move it onto designated circle.

Take old bottle caps in different colors and have the kiddos sort them out based on color.

Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

My little Turkeys came home wearing head gear and signing a song to the tune Pop Goes the Weasle:

A Turkey is a Funny Bird,

His Head goes Wobble Wobble,

And all he is knows is one word how to say,

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

Then we read this silly book (I’m a Turkey by Jim Arnosky) and walked around pretending to be Turkeys.  Fat Turkeys, Small Turkeys, Skinny Turkeys and Big Turkeys all wobbling along.  Not that it took that much to pretend.

Then finished off our turkey hat day with a finger play THE BIG TURKEY:

The big turkey on the farm is so very proud (make a fist)

He spreads his tail like a fan (fan out your fingers)

And struts throught the animal crowd.(move two fingers in the fist and pretend you are walking)

If you talk to him as he wobbles along; 

He will answer back with gobbling song

“gobble gobble gobble gobble” (open and close your hand)

It is November and I am still not in Thanksgiving mood.  At least not in craft Thanksgiving mood.  To be honest I am having a hard time thinking of Thanksgiving crafts that do not look like Turkeys or Puritans.  Seriously what else is in there?  I guess I could go back to pumpkins but that would be too Halloweeney.  So I am doing what most parents do with kids when they run out of ideas, we paint color and read.

We started off by doing some finger painting.

Trying to make them to look like turkeys

But just in case it did not work out too well.  I went to Craft Jr. to get these printables.

Then I sat back and relaxed and tried to have an interesting conversation with my kids, or just listen to them.

When done we read a great book called Thanksgiving Rules by Laurie Friedman

This adorable story told in rhyme introduces the young readers not only to Thanksgiving traditions like Turkey, Stuffing and Mashed Potatoes but also to untold Thanksgiving traditions like helping out, getting nicely dressed, learning how to properly greet and thank everyone for all their hard work.  It is recommended for 5-9 year old kids  but even my 3 year olds can benefit from some Thanksgiving Rules.

In two days my kiddos are going to be three years old.  I have no idea where the time went and in all honesty still have no idea of what I will do for their birthday party.  You see I went totally overboard last year and am failing miserably this year.  My house is too small to host any quality kids party where a play room would be needed so last year I had a petting zoo come to my house.

They were amazing.  They brought clean animals, food and grooming supplies

Each animal could be fed

Washed or more like groomed

and of course squeezed

“I’m gonna hug you and kiss you and love you forever (and never use you up)”.  When did  Elmyra Duff come into picture?

The petting zoo specializes in wild animals so I could have gone that route but the kids are a little bit small still to appreciate a lemur.

So we got back to sheep and weird looking chickens

Tons of goats to walk

and feed

and bunnies to take in and out of cages

After the petting it was time to dress up

from head pieces to nose pieces

and fill the babies little bellies

with more farm animals like these.

For weeks after the party my 2 year old boy was asking what happened to the bunnies.  He loved them so much and if I didn’t have a house full of pets I may have considered getting one.  So now I am in trouble because I can’t come up with a clever idea.  I guess for a 3 year olds everything is clever if you put them together with their friends.