Helping with Snack Time

We are big on finding ways to involve our littles in helping and participating around the house.  They are a very important part of our family and we like them to know they play a role in our household.  Its a great confidence booster and exercises little hands (fine motor skills development- is super important).   

At the dinner table you will hear my son announce, " I washed those potatoes," "I chopped those leaves," "I helped stir..."

He is proud to have helped bring dinner to the table or to have cleaned our apples and grapes for snacking.

We learn a lot about nutrition this way.  We talk about what we are washing off of the food, how it grows, and this activity gets them familiar with working with fruits and veggies.  Plus, its just fun to play in the water! 

It also helps me out tremendously to have them distracted, scrubbing produce out of the kitchen while I am cooking the bulk of the meal. Its nice cooking without little people attached to you.

You can find these inexpensive scrubbers anywhere!  This one came from a dollar store.  Its got a handle thats just the right size for little hands and is nice and short so they can control it easier. 

I add water in the sink of their play kitchen (from Ikea).
There is still some great imaginative play happening- which is great for little growing brains!  We feel like imaginative play is one of the most important parts of our littles' day. 

I laid out a towel for all of our clean apples.  

I guess he worked up an appetite with all of that scrubbing.  My littles love fruit.

Super easy way to include the littles and get a chance to do your own cooking!  It doesn't always come out "picture perfect."  My youngest little (almost 2 years) will scrub a potato, splash a little, scrub another, then try biting the potato, then splash some more before she decides to dump the water out. :)
 My 3 year old does wonderfully with this task though.