Experimenting in the Kitchen, and Playing with Flour

Today's post is from some projects we did a few weeks back, but I figured now was a good time to post!
as a kid, one of the things I remember always having fun with was cooking. My mother was never afraid to let my sister and I experiment, and create new "recipes" to make. Some of my favorite recipes actually came from these kitchen experiments, and so I decided to let Conrad play with a few things around the kitchen.

For this project you will need:

• a muffin tin
• small cups or bowls (baby food containers work well)
• several cooking ingredients(we used several spices, and other things we found in the cupboard, including uncooked rice, mint chocolate chips, and cheerios. We also used milk and water, so the items would mix wet)
• at least one spoon
• A very creative and adventurous child!

Lay out everything as shown in the picture above, and let the child explore and taste! :) as you can see from the following pictures, Conrad had a blast making concoctions, and trying them. Be forewarned, The child you are setting this up for, may as you to try his/her concoction, and you must not be afraid! :)

 Conrad made several different concoctions, and told me each of them was delicious! :) The one he is seen eating had everything in  it...pizza sauce, choc chips, rice, cheerios, water, milk, salt, cilantro, baking soda, chili powder, cinnamon, garlic powder, powdered sugar, and flour...but he loved it! This activity is also a good way to get your child to try something they may say they don't like when you use it! :)


For the next activity, you may want to have a broom standing by, or lay out a drop cloth before beginning.
you will need the following to have fun with this activity:

• flour(we used wheat, but you can use whatever you wish)
• a baking sheet or cake pan
• toy cars
• small toys( again, we used dinosaurs, because those are one of Conrad's favorites)
• small cups, measuring cups, and measuring spoons
• and hollow shapes, or small sand toys if you have them

Conrad had a blast doing this activity the first time, so we did it again a few weeks later, only modified it!

As you can see, The first time, we used a cake pan. I filled it about half way with flour, and then threw in some measuring spoons, some hollow shapes, and a few old baby food cups. Conrad enjoyed building "castles" and shapes out of flour!

He also enjoyed "measuring" flour to put into the baby food cup, and seeing how much would fit. he scooped and dumped, and packed in flour like a pro!

The second time we did the activity, we used a cookie sheet. Before we did this, we used the flour to practice writing some letters Conrad has difficulty with. When we had finished, I got out his favorite car, and some dinosaurs, and he had a blast making his own race tracks in the flour. At one point, he even decided his car was a snow plow, and the flour was snow.



As you can see, this activity could turn out to be pretty messy (flour spills out of the pan, ends up on tables, chairs and floor, as well as child) hence the reason behind the drop cloth. If you have no drop cloth, be sure to have a broom  and dustpan nearby.

Both time we played with flour, this kept Conrad busy for over an hour! :)