The holiday season has started and between shopping for gifts and decorating a tree, the kitchen is often filled with amazing smells of cinnamon, gingerbread and vanilla as cookies bake in the oven. It’s only fitting then that the first day of December was National Cookie Cutter Day. But there are so many more ways to use cookie cutters to celebrate the season and make the holiday season extra special.
Make Cookies
I know this one is obvious but it has to be included on the list! Baking together is a great bonding experience you can have with your child, but it also teaches a lot of skills at the same time. Your child is learning practical skills of pouring, stirring and kitchen clean-up. While measuring ingredients, older kids can practice addition, subtraction and working with fractions.
Food Fun
Another food-based idea is to use cookie cutters during meals to turn cheese slices or fruit into fun shapes. This can be a great approach to use if you have a picky eater who is reluctant to try something new. Even if they won’t try it still, giving them the opportunity to play and explore the food in a fun way is great exposure!
Use in Play-Doh
Using cookie cutters with Play-Doh is my daughter’s favorite. She loves squishing the cookie cutter into the dough and making fun shapes. This is a great way to work on fine motor skills and introducing messy play to little ones.
Use As a Stamp/Paint
Another artsy use for cookie cutters is to use them as a stamp with either an ink pad or by dipping them in paint. You get a nice outline of shapes that you can either color in or leave them as they are with just the outline.
Create an Ornament
This one is simple. Tie some ribbon or string around the cookie cutter and you have a fun and quick ornament for your tree or you could even give them as gifts. One year, my mom went all out and decorated our entire Christmas tree with just cookie cutters. It was fun and different and definitely a tree I still remember many years later! They would also look cute tied to a gift for a wedding shower or housewarming party.
After you finish your cookie baking, don’t pack away the cookie cutters so soon as there are lots more uses for them than just baking fun shaped cookies.
