With people spending more time at home in the ongoing pandemic, many of us are finding more opportunities to explore hobbies and activities focused on the kitchen. Whether you have children or not, cooking and baking can be a lot of fun.

It's nice to be able to able to prepare a batch of cookies and have something at the end to enjoy with family or just as a reward for yourself.

Whether you have future plans to travel to Japan or are just interested in the country, here is a fun product that lets you have fun baking and learn about Japan at the same time.

It's the 47 prefectures of Japan cookie cutter set!

Learn as you eat! Make cookies in the shape of Japan's prefectures!

As the name suggests, this box has 47 cookie cutters, one for each of the 47 prefectures of Japan.

With this set, you can not only enjoy making cookies but also learn about the geography of Japan.

One of our writers at our sister site Grape actually tried making cookies with her kids at home using the "47 prefectures of Japan cookie cutter set."

A family project: baking up a map of Japan in 47 cookies

"We have three kids in our family, and we often cook and make snacks together," says the Grape reporter.

"When I told my kids we were going to bake up a map of Japan in cookies, they were so excited! They imagined a fun game was about to begin."

Preparation time! Prefectures in various colors

Each cookie cutter is color-coded by region and grouped together. If they weren't, even adults may not be able to tell which prefecture is which. This makes it easy to understand!

You can make any cookie type you wish, but the writer just opted for the simplest sugar cookie recipe, mixing flour, sugar, eggs, and butter together to make the dough.

"My kids were very interested to see how the dough gradually took shape."

"The process of kneading the dough was like playing with clay, and the kids were very excited! We had fun chatting as we worked together to shape the dough."

"After the dough was made, we started flattening it with a rolling pin. I asked them to stretch it out until it was large enough to fit the cookie cutters, especially the large ones."

After rolling out the dough, chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes so that it can be easily cut out.

Which region to start with? Time to make Japanese prefecture cookies!

"Once the dough had hardened, it was time to make cookies! My oldest son picked up Hokkaido first. I'm sure it's an easy shape to remember."

"The dough came out beautifully, but when we took it out of the mold, the shape around Hakodate was deformed, and we hurriedly corrected it by hand."

"Each of us continued to cut out cookies in the shape we liked. The longer it took, the softer the dough became and the more difficult it became to cut out shapes."

It's a bit of a challenge, but it's sure to be a good experience.

For the Kanto and Kansai regions, the parts are finer and it's more difficult to cut out the dough cleanly, so we recommend doing those while the dough is cold and hard.

"I found it useful to use a toothpick to cut out the fine shapes!"

Making a map with baked cookies!

If you jumble up the pieces, it will be more difficult to tell which prefecture it is, so it's best to put them on the baking sheet in groups by region.

All that's left is to put them in the oven and wait! Let's hope it turns out alright...

Here are the finished cookies! "I set the baking time a little short because the size of the cookies varied so much, but the color of the finished cookies was a bit uneven..."

"I regretted turning the cookies over halfway through. I'll learn from this next time," the reporter admitted.

Once they're completely cooled, you can play a puzzle game making a map of Japan with the cookies before you eat them!

"An unexpected accident occurred for us here. I baked them in batches for each region, but the next thing I knew, my youngest had jumbled all the cookies together!"

"My kids looked at the package, compared the shapes, and asked, 'Which prefecture is it?' It was like a puzzle game, and it was fun for them to get absorbed in it."

"When the shape of Japan was completed, my kids were overjoyed!"

"It was quite difficult to guess the prefectures based on the shapes alone, and I was impressed when they figured out which prefectures were which by checking the completed map on the box. Even adults can forget the shapes of all the prefectures!"

Completed! A map of Japan made of cookies!

"After finally arranging all the cookies, I thought the map was complete, but then... I noticed that something was wrong."

"There's no Osaka Prefecture!"

"I was sure I'd baked cookies for all the prefectures. Something told me that my youngest son may have had something to do with it. He had his eye on Osaka the whole time..."

"After we finished the whole map, it was time for a snack! My eldest son got the big Hokkaido one."

It was an exciting snack time for the whole family as they decided who would get to eat which prefecture.

From making the dough, lining up the cookies, playing with them, and then eating then, these cookie cutters are a fun geography lesson and a great way to think about a future trip to Japan.

"Next time I make the whole map, I'd like to take a picture of all 47 prefectures," the writer told us.

The "47 prefectures of Japan cookie cutter set" can be used not only for cookies, but also for cutting out foods such as sliced cheese, ham, and thinly sliced boiled vegetables, so you can expand the scope of your cooking.

This product can be a learning experience for kids of all ages as well as a fun holiday or weekend activity. It also makes a great gift!