Welcome to the August Carnival of Natural Parenting: Creating With Kids
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how they make messes and masterpieces with children. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
I clearly remember from childhood that my Mum made almost everything from scratch with real ingredients. I was always involved in the kitchen from the time I could perch on a stool and stir and when I became a vegetarian at age 13 I started to cook many of my own meals. Throughout my life I have avoided many ‘convenience’ foods in favour of fresh, healthy and raw produce. These days as I spend my days at home with my two young children, we spend a LOT of time in the kitchen.
Our day starts with breakfast which is usually fresh herb tea, fruits and a meal which could be any combination of pancakes, plantains, breadfruit, tofu, oat porridge, toast with avocado/peanut butter/marmite, yesterdays leftovers and as many other ideas as I can think of on the fly. After the breakfast clean up, laundry and 1-2 hours of our home school activities, it’s time to head back into the kitchen and start preparing lunch. Sometimes the kids take a nap at this time but if not they will be right with me in the kitchen once again. Throughout the day I may also make juice, prepare snacks and, on treat days, make cakes or biscuits. In the evenings I prepare them another meal for supper. So with all this kitchen activity it’s a necessity to get the little ones involved to make the process easier for all of us!
Keeyah, who is now 3, will often grab her chair and stand up beside me ready to stir, mix and measure. Often when mixing ingredients for something like pancakes, she quickly abandons the spoon and gets in the bowl with her hands. Since I have yet to make her a only made her one sensory tub (it’s on my to-do-list), she gets a tactile experience as she feels the flour run through her fingers, plays about with the raisins and pours new ingredients in to the mix. Usually I just make sure her hands are clean at the outset with strict instructions not to suck her thumb in between! She also peels leaves from the spinach, spoons out the passion fruit pulp, unpeels raw cacao beans and presses the buttons on the blender to make smoothies. Chopping and grating haven’t gone that well so far but we will continue to experiment. I find that she is usually a little keener to eat food she has played a part in making.
Creating in the kitchen.
She also loves to wash up and will joyfully spend an hour at the sink playing in the water and washing various cups and bowls (even when they are already clean on the draining board). This activity usually results in her being soaked right through. Of course this is easily remedied by just changing her clothes but I recently made her an apron with a waterproof back to help make her more comfortable on the days she wants to spend a long time engaged in water play. The apron has a special meaning as I made it from a dress of her Great-Grandmother who has now passed on.
Keeyah models her homemade apron while licking the spoon clean (after she just made a vegan chocolate cake!)
Amarii, now 22 months, is now at a stage where he is none-too-impressed at the fact that his sister is allowed to stand up and get in on the action while he is left down. To help ease his frustration I have recently started giving him a large batch of homemade playdough on a tray – sometimes he plays with it so happily I am amazed, other times the play session is short as he tries to smear it on walls, floors and in his hair! I am glad that the extra salty taste of the dough usually makes him spit it out after the obligatory experiment of putting it in his mouth. Sometimes even Keeyah climbs down to join the play dough fun. Last week they were contentedly chopping away, making balls and noodles for about ½ hour – TOGETHER. In my household that is a big deal and probably playdough will be on the kitchen menu a lot more often!
Amarii decides to create his own game and hangs out in a kitchen cupboard!
Because the kitchen is such a hub of activity each day I felt it was important for the children to have a lot of their own space. They have a large kitchen cupboard filled with various pots, pans, utensils, bowls (which they also climb in and play about inside). They have a beautiful wooden play oven which was handmade in Dominica and a few sets of pretend food toys. The first set of play foods we received was the Melissa & Doug Wooden Cutting Fruit Crate
Kiddos in their pyjamas serving up a tasty breakfast!
I have also dadadadda…drum roll… started creating felt foods (at last).This is enormous fun and I could easily abandon all my household duties for a day just to sew! So far I’ve just made some slices of bread and tomato but I plan to continue in making foods that reflect what we eat and can be made in smaller parts so the kids can get busy pretending they are making recipes. (Making their own recipe book is on the to-do-list too)
Felt bread and tomatoes that I made! The lettuce is from the Ikea set.
Anyone want to try a felt sandwich?
Gratuitous close-up shot of the tomato slice just because I'm so proud of myself for finally making it!
Keeyah started a new game last week where she would ask me where each of her fruits and vegetables grew and I would tell her if they grew on the ground, below ground, in a tree or in a vine. She now tries to test her memory by telling me these facts and I love that she is gaining so much awareness of how and where her food grows at such a young age and we can have education and fun while creating plenty of good food to eat in our kitchen.
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Footnotes on Felt food:
Bread was made using the instructions on Helping Little Hands with my own outline and regular stuffing.
Tomatoes were adapted from this very fine tutorial on One Inch World.
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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
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That apron is adorable, and I *love* that the kids have their own cabinets in the kitchen – I wish I had the space to do that!! When Kieran was younger, I did move things around that he could get into the lower cabinets without me worrying that he’d find something that would hurt him.
And your felt food is adorable – you are so crafty
Thanks for the compliments – I have really rediscovered my love for sewing in the last few weeks – it’s very calming for me as I rarely find a moment to relax unless I am multitasking!
We keep very little food in our cupboards so I am glad for the space that the kids can use. It’s been a huge help for them to have their own space.
Great job with the felt food! I’m super impressed!! I love the pictures of the kids playing in the kitchen and the one of Amarii in the kitchen cabinet. My mom has lots of pictures of me crawling into cabinets and drawers when I was little
The Happy Hippie Homemaker recently posted..How Involving My Kid Saves My Sanity!
Climbing into small spaces is such fun as a kid! Makes me feel claustrophobic just watching them but I keep that to myself!
I love how much you cook! Yum. Your kids must appreciate that so much.
I love your felt food, too! I keep meaning to use up some of my fabric scraps and make some food for my son, but everything else takes so much time that I haven’t gotten around to it!
I cook a lot…sometimes for no appreciation at all!! Check the time saving tip under Hybrid Rasta Mama’s comment – hope you get a chance to make some food soon!
We’re on the same wavelength this month! I especially love making smoothies with the kiddos, and I’m so inspired by your felt food. We actually just sold our play kitchen because the kids had stopped using it, but they’ve been helping in the big kitchen so I’m feeling okay about that, though it was one of my favorite toys!
I think I may keep our wooden oven forever – even when the kids are totally outgrown it!
Your tomatoes are gorgeous! I love that so many people wrote about creating in the kitchen. I almost skipped the carnival this month completely because I don’t consider myself crafty… I’m glad I was convinced that my “brand” of creating with my daughter was still creating!
I’m very glad you posted too – your photos were fab! Yes kitchen mess is definitely creating!!
I am in LOOOOOOVE with Plantains (the Puerto Rican in my as well as my honorary Jamaican side!) I am jealous of your menus. Can I come live with you????
Much like you my Tiny is always helping me cook. It is a messy affair but so much fun!
And by the way – your felt food is awesome. Tiny loves her although I have not tried to make it. I just do not have the time but think you have inspired me to find some!
Great pictures too!
We have so many plantains right now you are welcome to some! Sure come and stay, it will be fun!
Thanks for the compliment on the felt food. Time saving tip: Put all the pieces in a zip up bag along with the right thread, needles, pins, scissors and go to it whenever there is a spare 2 minutes! Sometimes I sew whilst putting one of the children to sleep in a back carry, other times in the evening when my computer overheats (yeah that needs to be fixed), a quick sew when the kids are totally engrossed in an activity (rare but it does happen). With everything all together it makes it so easy to grab and pick up from where I left off. I have even done some sewing on the bus!
We have the same IKEA set but I love your tomatoes.Gorgeous. Defne also loves helping me in the kitchen but the best part is licking the spoon
She loves it when we are baking a cake.
I still remember being in the kitchen with my Mum and licking the spoon! Surely a must-have childhood memory!!
Oh my! The photo of Amarii hanging out in the kitchen cupboard is darling! It reminds me of the time I found my daughter asleep on one of her bookshelves! Thanks for a great post and the fab photos of your felt food; good enough to eat
Asleep on a bookshelf – now that is hilarious
Thanks for liking the felt food…I’m moving on to make cucumber slices later this week!
What a lovely portrait of your family in the kitchen. I love that you made Keeyah’s apron from her great-grandmother’s dress. Beautiful felt food, too.
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Your tomato slices came out great, thanks for sharing your work, I love to see it!
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