Pie Making: A Family Bonding Activity

Pie making is a great family kitchen activity year-round, but especially during the holiday season! There are many ways for kids to help in making pies and to create alongside you!

Growing up, we always celebrated “Pie Tasting” the day before Thanksgiving. That day was typically spent preparing for Thanksgiving and in my grandma’s case, making pies. She would make her homemade pie crust and pie fillings. She always made an extra pie of each kind so we could “taste” them that night. Even when it wasn’t her year for Thanksgiving, she would make pies just for pie tasting. It became one of our family’s favorite traditions very quickly. 

When I got old enough to help, I would go learn how to make pie crust from my grandma. It was a wonderful bonding experience that provided many opportunities to have great one-on-one conversations with my grandma. 

Over the years, as I have had my own family and am focused on building traditions, I cherish the memories I make each year with my grandma at Thanksgiving and even though my kids are still young, I want them to become part of these memories.

This year, I have come up with some ways for my kids to participate in this holiday season tradition. Baking with kids isn’t always the easiest. They make messes and make every step a bit slower, but if you plan for it, the process can be enjoyable! 

My kids love helping in the kitchen. They love to stir dinner and pour ingredients in.  I’m excited to share some ideas with you, so that you can make these memorable moments in the kitchen happen with your family.

If you have small kids, pre measure the ingredients. This will save you some stress and help keep your kiddos attention instead of having to stop and wait while you measure each ingredient.

Let your kids mix the filling ingredients. Whether you are making a pudding pie or a pumpkin pie, let the kids mix it up! They will love it!

For bigger kids, I highly recommend having them measure out ingredients. It’s a great practice for them and it is a wonderful math skill in real life! Reading the recipe is also a wonderful practice!

Have your kids pinch the edges of the pie or push a fork around the edges to give it a nice, finished look.

Some other ways the kids can help with the finishing touches are to braid some strips of dough and place it around the edge of the pie or to help make a lattice for pies that need a top crust.

Don’t want the kids touching your pies but still want some kitchen activities for children? When making pies, this is easy. Simply make an extra pie crust just for the kids. They can make pie crust cookies!

Roll out the crust as you would for a pie, use cookie cutters to get shapes, and place them on a cookie sheet.  Add an egg wash, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. 

After they are done baking, you have some fun, flaky cookies! If you want, you can glaze them with a light powdered sugar frosting.

So if you are looking for a family bonding activity this holiday season, or any time of year, try letting your kids help you in the kitchen! It will create family memories that you can come back to every year!