I have always used the supermarket flyers (like the ones you get to say what is on special this week) to make collages with DS - we sit and cut out pictures of various foods, toys, clothes, whatever tickles his fancy and glue them on a large sheet of paper. I do the cutting with baby scissors or if he is in a particularly co-operative or calm mood then I put his fingers in them but I still have to hold his hands to do the actual cutting. I let him glue with a glue stick and stick things on. Other times we will just rip paper into small bits and he will smear glue on a larger paper and then stick the bits on. He likes sticking stickers on the paper then and will ask me to draw a flower or dog or bunny and then stick his pictures on the fridge.
At playgroup we did colour some penne with markers and then thread it onto yarn, and he liked that, so it's on my list to do with him at home soon.
I let him help me do baking or cooking but we don't do things specifically FOR him or just for the sake of it. I pull his highchair up to the counter and then choose what he can and can't do. I crack eggs and put them in a small tea cup/mug and then let him pour them into the larger bowl (by far his favourite thing to do). Or pour the milk into the bowl. If it is dinner time and I am cooking I will often chop vegetables and leave them on the counter and put a pot or bowl next to them and ask him to put them in. Or sometimes I will guide his hand so he can stir something.