Cooking with a Toddler by Lisa Cole
Cooking' in our house is a broad term that basically means splatting the walls with cake mixture and stirring pancake mixture with bananas. That's fine by me to a certain extent, most things are washable and I wouldn't want to be accused of stifling my sons creativity, but I have developed a couple of strategies to make the whole cooking' process a lot less stressful for me.
Firstly I get all the ingredients out so he doesn't have to find some other way to entertain himself while I look for something. I try to prepare a few things in advance too, like cutting the tops off onions ready for him to peel. He is getting quite good at stopping pouring now, but before he had that self-discipline I would measure out liquids before handing them over to him to add to mixtures. I try to clear the surrounding area of non-food items too, fridge magnets and cat crunchies do not cook well.
My 2 year old helps me with washing veg, pouring, measuring, cutting (heavily supervised), mixing, cracking eggs, rolling out, kneading, filling pastry cases or paper bun cases, stamping out biccies, icing, decorating and eating the end results. He would probably cook all day if he could. We have the odd argument about biscuits staying on baking sheets and them having eventually to go in the oven, but on the whole cooking is a good hours worth of entertainment. More if I get him to do the washing up afterwards. I don't let him put stuff in or take it out of the oven yet though and I think he is too young to do cooking on the hob.
We make all sorts of stuff, he likes cutting mushrooms up and mixing chickpea flour, water and chopped up veg for pakoras. His biccy cutter of choice is the piggy and his bread kneading is spectacular, if unorthodox!
Bread ideas:
Most bread flours or packet yeasts have recipes on them, you need to let the dough rise first so unless you have a child that understands the concept of delayed gratification I recommend making the dough in advance. After it has risen the child can punch the air out of it and knead it again.
Sultana spirals: Roll dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with sultanas (and sugar if you like), roll up in a spiral and cut into thick slices. When put onto a baking sheet they will rise and join up.
Hedgehog bread: take a fist size bit of dough and roll into a ball. Pinch one end into a point for the face and snip into the ball with scissors to make the prickles. Add raisins for eyes.
Glazing with oil, milk or beaten egg is good fun too.
Biccy ideas:
As long as you are not too fussy you can make biccys with all sorts of random ingredients. You basically need twice as much flour as fat and a bit or sweet stuff and liquid.
something dry; flour, or oats,
something wet; milk or water,
something oily; oil or marj,
and sugar.
If you use normal flour it is easiest because the gluten in it makes the pastry stick together. If you use flour without gluten it can be easier to use if you chill it for half an hour before you roll it. If it can't be rolled it can usually be pressed into a flattish shape.
Grated coconut (the type that comes in cardboard boxes), mixed with a little honey and hot water makes great and not too sweet icing.
copyright Lisa Cole www.lactivist.co.uk 2005
Summer Holiday Activities by Arabella Greatorex
Summer holidays are a wonderful time, lots of time for children to relax and unwind from the stresses of a long school year. It can also be an expensive time for parents as children demand yet another expensive toy to keep them amused.
Keep a holiday journal
Buy a scrap or notebook for each child to keep mementoes of the summer break in. The front can be decorated and the pages filled with drawings of things seen, stories of summer adventures, feathers, leaves, flowers collected on day trips, postcards of places visited etc.
Older children will enjoy writing about all the new things they have seen, reports on trips to the museum, or inventing stories about people they have met; younger children can draw pictures or make collages from collected items eg a tree made out of leaves collect on a trip to the park.
Make a holiday picture
This is similar to the above idea buts makes a pictorial memento instead. After each trip out, help your child to make a picture of the day, incorporating items found during the trip.
For example, collect sand, small shells and stones, seagull feathers, seaweed etc on a trip to the seaside, then use these to make a collage of the beach.
Dedicate a special space on the wall to show off these works of art.
Have a mini Olympics
Prepare a few stations in the garden in advance, based on your child(ren)'s ability - toddlers may need help the first time round.
- Throw 3 balls or bean bags into a box
- Walk along a piece of string
- Jump in and out of a hula hoop 3 times
- Catch a thrown ball 3 times
- Stand on your head for 30 seconds
- Stand on 1 leg for a minute
- Run from one side of the garden to the other as fast as possible.
- Kick a ball into a goal 3 times
Go on a bear hunt
Hide some toy animals around the garden (or in the house if it is wet) and see how many can be found. Older children will enjoy it if the animals are very well hidden, perhaps with clues to their location dotted around.
Organise a picnic
Get your child to help you prepare some simple food, sandwiches, salad, etc and turn a trip to the park into a special event. If it is too wet to go out, put a rug down in the sitting room and have your picnic there instead.
Rainy days
Children need exercise, so if it is too wet for a trip out, play Simon Says, ask for help with the cleaning, tidy the toys away together, put on that old exercise video you have had for ages and see how many exercises you can do together.
Musical Animals
Place several soft animals in a circle and turn on some music, When the music stops, each child picks up an animal then takes it in turn to act out the animal - think about how the animal moves as well as the noises it makes. This can be adapted for one or several children.
Make a book
For younger children, cut out lots of pictures from old magazines, toy catalogues etc and let your child stick them in a special book. Add in photographs of family and friends and make up simple stories.
Older children will like the challenge of writing their own book, so provide plenty of paper and pencils to the budding J K Rowling and lend a willing ear to the first reading.
Hold a puppet show
Make simple puppets out of old socks or a paper bag with a face or animal drawn on it. Act out a favourite book or invent a new story. Older children can make more complicated puppets themselves and be the puppeteers with you (and the teddies) as the audience.
Arabella Greatorex is the owner of www.naturalnursery.co.uk, an online store selling organic and fairly traded products for families including organic clothing and nappies, fairly traded toys and natural toiletries.
