Ugly Pie

Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler is one of our very favorite books for Thanksgiving!  It combines our love of reading with our love of cooking (and of course, eating!).  Reading the book and then making some Ugly Pie has become a new family tradition.  This year, we couldn't wait for Thanksgiving so made it for Halloween!

Ugly Pie is an adorable story of Ol' Bear who wakes up one morning with a hankering for his favorite pie, Ugly Pie.  He goes on his morning walk and surprisingly encounters his neighbors and all the ingredients he needs to make his very own Ugly Pie.   At the end of the book Ol' Bear shares his pie with all of his neighbors and even better, shares the recipe with us!  Miss 4 gets so excited when there is a recipe at the end of a book and always begs to make them.   The recipe for Ugly Pie did not disappoint!   Delicious!

Since our 4 year old love, love, LOVES to cook, I thought it would be fun to let her make this year's Ugly Pie all by herself, from making out the grocery list, shopping for the ingredients, to making the actual pie.  Oh what fun she had!

First, I made a picture "list" of all of the pie ingredients (download a copy below).  Her task was to go through the kitchen and cross off all of the ingredients that we had.  She took her job very seriously!

Next,  she circled the ingredients that we did not have.  Amazingly, we only needed 3 ingredients this year; lemon juice, walnuts, and apples.  She was super excited to take her list to the grocery store!  

Next, with list, shopping cart and an adorable pink poodle named Dos, we headed to our local Aldi.  We love Aldi for these special kid shopping trips because it is so much smaller then other grocery stores and makes navigating and finding items so much easier.

Shopping success!

Then we headed home to make our beautiful, Ugly Pie!  I think this year's pie turned out sweeter then the last.  Maybe it was the sweet little hands that made it or the extra time and love we put into making it a fun family activity. Miss 4 learned so many things, which, in my book,  is a bigger success then the actual pie (although that pie was pretty darn good!)

*how to make a grocery list
*how to follow a list
*how to locate items in a grocery store
*how to pay with money
*how to follow a recipe
*measurements
*sharing
*family traditions

 This was such a fun family activity from start to delicious finish! If you're hankering for some delicious pie and a sweet read, give Ugly Pie a try!

Below is a copy of our Ugly Pie grocery list.

If you liked this activity, check back soon for another book and recipe activity.


What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?  Please share in the comments below.