tollhouse cookie recipe printable for kids {illustrated w/photos}

A lot of cookies get made at our house. I try not to keep track of how quickly we go through the huge Costco sized bag of chocolate chips because I have a feeling I’d be embarrassed if I did. It’s possible we overdo a little around here, but making cookies is a fantastic activity to do with kids of all ages. Even tiny kids can help dump flour or chocolate chips into a bowl, and older ones can do the entire project by themselves. Making cookies together is not only fun, it’s also a great way to start teaching basic math concepts to preschool age kids – you can put ingredients in order, count together as you add eggs or flour, and talk about basic fractions like 1/2 and 1/4. To make the whole process a little simpler for my preschooler, I made a cookie recipe that’s illustrated in photos. This way he can be more in charge of the process – telling me what comes next and figuring out how much to put in. It’s genius, if I do say so myself 🙂

Print this out on cardstock and you have crisp colorful photos that clearly illustrate how much of each ingredient is needed, when to put it in, and when to mix. (It’s the TollHouse chocolate chip cookie recipe modified very slightly to avoid more difficult fractions.)

To make things even more fun, slide the recipe page into a plastic page protector and give your child a dry erase marker so he can cross ingredients off as they get added:

My little guy loved it! He had a great time helping me measure and marking things off, then eating the cookies of course. Even my twins (who are 10) think it’s a great idea – they usually make cookies without any help from me and occasionally forget what order things go in or can’t find the recipe card. They’ve decided we should just tape this recipe to the inside of the pantry door so it’s always handy.

If you think this idea is genius (and I hope you do!) just click here to download and print. If you don’t think this idea is genius, please don’t tell me as I’d prefer to live my life deluded but happy…

This worked out so well for us I’m considering making another one with the chocolate chip cookie recipe we prefer the most, or maybe even a homademade brownie recipe. Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’d really like to see – thanks!