Cooking with Kids - Little hands helping in the kitchen!

Mommy, Can I Help?

Our family spends a lot of time in the kitchen, as I'm sure is true about many families.  I love that the girls want to help while I'm cooking, and there are a lot of lessons about math, science and life that occur in the time we spend there, whether they recognize it or not.  That said, many of the activities we enjoy together take a lot of preparation, not to mention careful management and cleanup!  Every once in awhile I want the girls to be able to enjoy themselves and play a bit in a way that actually helps me and also allows me to be productive at the same time.  This is one of those activities!





Look! A clean potato!

I had a huge sack of potatoes and was making several dishes at the same time - all of which required slicing and dicing of cleaned potatoes.  In came two sweet little girls wanting to help, and so we got out two big bowls, a stack of towels, and two vegetable scrubbers.  With towels spread out underneath, I filled the bowls halfway with water and the girls went to town scrubbing and splashing.  When they were done, we dumped the water out and used the wet towels to clean the floor - how's that for serving double duty!

Do you have little hands that like to help?  What are your favorite activities when your kids are in the kitchen?



Finger Print "Rain" Art

Even though it's only April 4, we've already had several "April Showers". The weather overall has been fantastic this spring, but even so this mama has been around the block enough to know it's important to have several rainy day activities in her toolbox! :)

Most kids love to paint, and if mine aren't closely supervised things nearly always dissolve into finger/hand painting. Imagine their delight when I squeezed out the paint and encouraged them to make finger prints all over the paper!

We started with a blank sheet and made several finger prints in different orientations and colors. We talked about how the blue ones looked a bit like raindrops. Then I drew an umbrella on a fresh sheet for each of them and encouraged them to create their own rainy day scene - complete with fingerprint raindrops! Both girls loved this, and afterward we switched back to free painting which they also enjoy. It was fun to see them plan their project in advance, get started and make edits along the way. We will definitely do this again!

What are your favorite rainy day activities?

Free St Patrick's Day Fun - all week at McAlister's Deli!

YUM! McAlister’s Deli celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with Free Cookies
Looking for a little luck of the Irish?

McAlister’s Deli is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

all week

by giving away free cookies to patrons wearing green.

McAlister’s Deli “Lucky Days” run through the week of March 12-17.

Show off your best green attire for a fabulous sweet treat!
The following locations are participating in "Lucky Days":

7720 Montgomery Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45236

4560 Cornell Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45241

7622 Cox Ln. West Chester, OH 45069

5040 Deerfield Blvd. Mason, OH 45040

2865 Dixie Hwy. Crestview Hills, KY 41017