Making cookies

I am often reminding myself that mundane things are highly educational for little children.  Things like pretend-playing, flipping through books, reading, cleaning, playing, exploring, etc. But all of these things seem incredibly useless, and (I must confess) slightly inconvenient.  I mean, who wants to stop every two feet to explore the dead bug on the ground?????

And well... baking is at the top of the "inconvenient, yet highly educational" list.  With all the texture-feeling and flavor-tasting, never mind letting the children observe raw materials become yummy cookies -- I mean, it doesn't get more "preparatory" than that!!!!

But it is fun, and the kids love it, and they are learning, and we are making sweet memories, and the little one ends up looking like this at the end of it --