What’s cooking?

When cooking, have your toddler help with tasks like getting food from the fridge or cupboard, mixing ingredients, practise simple pouring, and putting food on the plate.

Teach them how to set the table as well to get in the habit of good tidying-up skills. Even encourage them to smell the ingredients you are using as you are preparing the meal.

Cooking is fascinating to toddlers, and they get a lot out of assisting you in the kitchen. Not only are they building those all-important fine motor skills, but they are becoming more independent and helpful as well!

And as an added bonus, all these tasks help discourage a fussy eater down the track as they become more interested and experimental with food.

If you have time you can make some ‘plate art’ with your little one by creating faces on their dish using the food you’ve cooked (who knew you were a Master Chef in the making?!).

It can encourage toddlers to try new foods or perhaps ones they rejected before but which look far more enticing in the shape of a funny face.

Serve up the food, with help from your little waiter or waitress, sit down and enjoy the meal. Bon appetit!