What are some recipes you've taught your children that could be accomplished during an afternoon play date?

Homemade pasta dough, with rolling pin and board. Cut in flat shapes (fettucini, maltagliati, ravioli, etc) the kids prefer. Fill or sauce & there's lunch.

One more and it was my favorite 'project' as a child: pizza

The children can make their own pizzas with a few topping choices. You can even make a decent dough in a couple of hours or use a store-bought dough. I know very few children who don't love pizza.

I made quick breads with my kids at that age - banana bread, or you could do zucchini bread, given the season (especially kid-approved with mini chocolate chips in the batter.) Can be made, baked and snacked on all in an afternoon's time. Maybe let them 'design' their own fruit smoothie to go with.

My daughter loves making sauces and dips because she can add something, taste and adjust. It is a good lesson in balancing salty, sweet, sour etc. and makes for a good snack with veggies, crackers etc. We have a couple sets of Japanese cutters which we also use with sliced meats and cheeses to make appetizer platters. She loves arranging everything in a pretty pattern and then assembling little snacks.

We also have make-your-own-pizza parties where we have a variety of toppings ready and the kids assemble them.

Or you could do a traditional tea party and have little finger sandwiches and treats.

My parents always helped me and my friends make bread when we had play dates. If we had enough time, we could make/help with the dough, but if we didn't have much time, my parents would make the dough in advance, then let us shape it so we could each have loaves in our own special shape to take home.

Dirt cakes are fun and cute. They involvenew, clean clay pots, pudding, oreo cookies, gummy worms and plastic or silk flowers.

Some ideas:

-marshmallows
-chocolate bark
-cake pops
-fudge
-jello jigglers
-fig newtons