The recipes that follow will allow you to present nutritious food offerings to your child that should appeal to his or her senses.
In addition, another dimension has been added to these recipes taking into account a young child’s desire to help the adults in his/her life. The bold words in each recipe are suggested tasks that you could allow your child to help with as time allows. You know your child best, so pick and choose the tasks that best fit him/her. And, of course, safety is the #1 issue; all tasks should be supervised and monitored by an adult especially those involving use of the kitchen range or any hot dishes. Another word of caution, young children may be interested in filling their own ice cream cone with pudding but (in most cases) would be overwhelmed with filling enough to use the entire batch of pudding. To help gauge what your child can do, here’s a general guide of a child’s capabilities by age:
Ages 1 & 2 --- stirring, shaking, tossing salad, whipping his/her place setting, throwing away trash, adding napkins to a table setting
Ages 2 & 3 --- putting toast in a toaster, pouring from a small, lightweight pitcher, arranging food on a plate, peeling a banana if the top is cut, cutting a banana with a butter or kitchen type knife, opening packages, rolling or patting out dough, spreading butter or spreads onto bread, shaping burger or meatballs
Most importantly, let common sense and the reaction of your child guide you when determining what he or she can do to help.