Teach Your Kids to Cook This Fall With Pumpkins

Oh my goodness October is perhaps the best month of the year. Perhaps. I live in Utah so some Octobers are perfectly cool and breezy while others leave us wearing snow clothes over our costumes. Regardless, October means Pumpkins!

Cooking skill: For younger kids – Pouring; For older kids – Mixing with beater

There’s lot of pouring in this recipe. A perfect task for the littlest toddlers to stay involved. Older toddlers will also have a blast using the beater. Make sure to teach them how to keep the beaters immersed deep in the mix to keep it from splattering all over your walls.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

I love this recipe because it is egg free. At risk of being a Captain Obvious…toddlers aren’t very good with eggs. Everything here is as simple as measure-and-pour.

The Ingredients

1 Pre-made pie crust
1 15oz Can of Pumpkin Puree
1 14oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1 Tbsp McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 425ºF

Let the little gremlins scoop, measure, plop or dump all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl then beat until well blended. Let your child use the beater if possible. There’s something so fun about it!

Pour the filling into the pie crust the let the kids softly spread the filling around to the edges.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF then reduce heat to 350ºF and cook for another 60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Once pie has cooled place a mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes. Combine 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream with 2 Tbsp sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form.

Top the cooled pumpkin pie with whipped cream and enjoy!

Story: Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

This is a heart warming storybook about a little old lady that hated pumpkins. She becomes burdened with an out of control patch of pumpkins and turns the pumpkins into treats and jack-o-lanterns for her entire community. It was a fun read for my kids. A little too detailed for my two year old to keep interested but it drew my four year old in wonderfully. And it shares a sweet message. I love that crap.

Additional Activities

If you feel like filling up your school day with pumpkin-themed activities, look no further. Here are a few more ideas that we have incorporated in our pumpkin pie day thanks to some other internet do-it-better-yourselfers.

Pumpkin Play Dough

Great for busy hands and little noses. This play dough is perfectly playful and smells delicious.

Click here for instructions

Scissor Skills Pumpkins

We do cutting time every week in our home preschool and kindergarten. The kids love and it helps with their fine motor skills. Here is a fun pumpkin themed activity you can incorporate in your cutting class.