A 3 year old's perspective on cooking.

Yesterday I was getting out things to make meat loaf for dinner and Emily comes running into the kitchen very excited. She gets out her apron and then enthusiastically asks, "Can I help make? What are you making? I want to help make!" Make? Does she mean bake? I tell her I'm not baking anything and explain I'm mixing together the meatloaf. She still wants to help. I then have to explain that it's not a safe idea for little kids to touch raw meat, so she can't help this time. She got really sad and then says, "But I really want to make somthing, what can I make?". So cute, Emily and Savannah both love to help me bake cookies. I guess they think working with food is called "making". I can see the reasoning behind that, for example, I'll ask them if they want to help make some cookies, or tell them I need to go make dinner. Maybe I'll have to plan some fun cookies or cupcakes to bake...or um...make?