Teach your Toddler How to Cook Archives - Wild Edisons

Plan a Meal with your Toddler

Mom-E — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:52:23 +0000

Talk about food with your toddler and then make a meal together.

Part one…
Pick up a cooking magazine and look through the pictures with your toddler. Talk to them about the different foods that you see. Ask them what they like. Have them look for ingredients in the pictures of dishes.

“This stew has carrots. Do you see the orange carrots?”

“Oh! This pizza has peanuts in it. How do you think that would taste?”

Talking about foods with your toddler can peak their curiosity and make them more open to trying new tastes.

Part two…
Pay attention as your toddler gets excited about certain pictures. Help them choose a favorite dish. Then, cut out the picture and the recipe and make it!

Involve them in as much of the process as possible. At the store, reference the picture as you find the ingredients you will need. In the kitchen, let them help you set out the ingredients on the counter. As you cook, make sure they can watch from a safe place and give them little activities to help; stirring, pouring, etc.

When the dish is complete, look at the meal and the picture from the magazine and talk about how you made it together.

“Do you like it? Should we make this dish again?”

“Is that how you thought it would taste?”

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Fun with Corn on the Cob

Mom-E — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:52:18 +0000

Make dinner and introduce your toddler to cooking with this fun activity.

What you Need for this Toddler Activity…
* Corn on the cob (still in the husk)
* A pan
* A basting brush
* Melted butter

How you Do It…

Start off by visiting this excellent website: How to Boil Corn on the Cob This site has wonderful pictures for each step of the process.
Show your toddler the corn (still in the husk) and then show the picture of the corn on the website.
Have your assist you with husking the corn and, again, show them the picture on the website.
They can help you fill the pot with water, but then have them watch from a safe distance as you bring the water to a boil, pop in the corn, and then pull out the corn with tongs.
As the corn cools, prepare a bowl of melted butter, a basting brush, and a plate to put the buttered corn.
When the corn is cool enough for a toddler to handle, put them to work “painting” on the butter.
Enjoy!

Tips…
* Please use your best judgment with this activity. Don’t let your toddler touch the stove or the hot corn or the boiling water. “Painting” on the butter can get a little messy, so you might want to use an apron on your toddler and use any other measures you wish to contain the mess.

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Toddler Cooking Activity – Pretend and Real

Mom-E — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:59:35 +0000

For Edison’s 2nd birthday, we went to a used children’s store and bought him a play kitchen and a bag of plastic food. He knew what to do with most of the food. He boiled the peas, put the pizza in the oven, etc.

But, when it came to the fake syrup and waffles, he stuck them in a drawer with the cooking utensils. Aside from a few times when we eased his teething with pieces of frozen waffles, he really didn’t have much experience with them.

So, we gathered up his plastic waffles, pretend syrup, fake pat of butter, and a plate. Then, he helped me get the real versions of each item. As I toasted the frozen waffles, put them on a plate, drizzled them with syrup, and topped them with a pat of butter; he followed along with his plastic food.

It actually ended up being a lot of fun and we were able to make lunch at the same time. Plus, now he knows what to do with those weird square plastic things that Mom keeps referring to as waffles.

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