My Montessori Journey: Cutie Pies

Monday and Tuesday were big-time fun days in our classroom. We finally baked our little apple pies with the apples we had picked last week. I recruited the help of a few moms and grandmas with this project. We set everything up in a separate room from the classroom and my assistant took the children out in small groups so they could each make their own little apple pie. During this time I stayed in the classroom with the remaining students and we had a normal work period.

The first step was to use the awesome apple peeler/corer/slicer machine (we borrowed these from some moms and grandmas too!) to peel, core and slice the apples. The children loved being able to turn the crank. Who doesn't love using a new gadget? (Now I want one of my own. I have told my favorite thrift shop owner, Terri, to let me know when she gets one in again.)

Next the children chopped their apple slices into smaller pieces (with close supervision........although Miss Melissa told me the knives weren't that sharp. Maybe because I bought 4 for $1 at Dollar General!).

We used refrigerated pie crust for the crusts. The children used a drinking glass to cut out circles from the dough.

Next, they placed a circle into the bottom of a muffin tin and added their chopped apples on top. Then they sprinkled the apples with a teeny bit of flour and a teeny bit of cinnamon/sugar mixed together. Then they added the top crust and cut a little slit in the top with the knife. To keep track of whose pie was whose, I made a little "muffin tin map" on a piece of paper and color-coded the muffin tins with a piece of tape. When a child made their pie, the adult wrote their name in the corresponding circle on the map so that when the pies were removed, they could place each child's pie on a paper plate marked with their name. Good sanitary habits are our motto!

I loved how cute and kid-sized these pies were when they came out. Oh.........the adults sprayed the inside of the muffin tins with cooking spray and the pies came out just great! Most of the adults who helped remarked about how easy these pies were to make and how yummy they tasted. We baked them in a convection oven at 395 degrees for about 10 minutes. I had made a trial batch at home in my regular oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. We will definitely plan to make some little "cutie pies" again next fall. It was a wonderful hands-on learing experience for my little ones and I know they won't forget making their own little pies.

5 Comments

Hi! Thanks for writing to tell me! I have been meaning to do them at home with my two boys and need to get on it! I just checked out your blog. You have a lovely little family. Thanks so much for writing!
Laura

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Posted by: Laura | October 06, 2010 at 04:47 PM