Bake Fall Leaf Cookies

What You Need:

• ½ c room temperature butter
• ½ c sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• Dash of salt
• 1 ½ c flour
• Mixing bowl
• Hand mixer
• Spatula
• Sketch paper and pencil
• Rolling pin
• Butter knife
• Sheet pan
• Powdered sugar
• Red and yellow food coloring
• Paintbrushes
• Water

What You Do:

1. Invite your child to measure and add the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and egg to the mixing bowl. They can use the spatula to break up the butter and then, with some adult supervision, use a hand mixer to whip everything together.
2. Now they can do a little math to figure out how to divide the amount of flour needed by thirds. Along with making tasty cookies, your child is learning math skills! Once they have figured out the correct measurement, they can add a third of the flour and stir, then another third and stir, and finally the last of the flour.
3. Next your child can place the sugar cookie dough in the fridge for 20-minutes to set-up.
4. While they are waiting, invite your child to sketch out leaves on a piece of sketch paper. They can take a look outside for fall leaf inspiration!
5. Invite your child to preheat the oven to 350 F. and lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Now they can place half of the cookie dough on the work surface, dust with a bit more flour, and roll until about ¼ inch thick.
6. Offer your child a butter knife to cut leaf shapes from the sugar cookie dough and then place on the sheet pan.
7. Once they have filled the pan with lots of leaf shapes, pop the cookies into the hot oven for about 12 minutes.
8. While the cookies are baking, they can mix up the colors for painting their cookies. Your child can place 2 Tbsp of powdered sugar into a small cup and then add a few drops of red food coloring. Now they can do the same with another 2 Tbsp of powdered sugar, another small cup, and a few drops of yellow food coloring. They can finish the paints with a couple of drops of water, using clean paintbrushes to mix.
9. Once the cookies have cooled, invite your child to use the edible paints to finish their fall leaf cookies. They can blend the edible paints while painting the cookies or paint them all one color.