Need Ideas for a 2 Year Old Helping with Food Preparation

He can tear letuce, put silverware on the table, put ketchup, salad dressing (plastic bottles) on the table, napkins on the table, take his drink to the table, stir a pot (with you holding him)...

after you measure, have the son pour the ingredients into a bowl. stand behind him and with your hand in his gripped around the spoon handle, stir together.

put an apron on him and make him feel like the "baker".

happy holidays

My two and a half year old son loves to help in the kitchen too. One favorite is making mini pizzas. He likes to spread the sauce on with a spoon then sprinkle the cheese. Tearing up lettuce for the salad and using the salad spinner are fun too.

Washing and tearing up salad greens, adding premeasured ingredients (use the little prep bowls filled with premeasured, prechopped ingredients), adding ice to glasses, spreading butter on rolls, bread or toast, shaping hamburgers with premeasured hamburger, slicing cheese with heavy thread, floss or string...Have fun!!!

My two year old helps me make almost everything. We bake bread (no, it never turns out the same, ha!) He can mix, stir, dump in nearly every recipe. sugar cookies were a hit - not giveaway worthy, but fun....sprinkles, salt and pepper, dumping are hits w/ my little guy!

My son had been making his own scrambled eggs since he was two. He loves it and all I have to help with is cracking the eggs. He decides what spices and other additions (omlet like). Occasionally I have to help stir in the pan.

Also he can dump in and stir most any recipe. I measure and then he dumps. Flour, onions, water, etc. We had to work on aim, especially with the liquids, but he's a pro now and loves smelling different spices. Last month he helped me make turkey broth.

Sue Gregg (use google) Has a cookbook that is geared towards teaching kids to cook and includes a list of different skills to expect at ages 2+. All the way up to meal planning and shopping at about age 12-14. I plan to get it soon.

My son turned two in August, and also loves to help in the kitchen. We have a learning tower so that he can see what's going on and help - we bought it after he fell off the chair a time or two. He knows that the burners on the stove and the oven can be hot, and is really good about staying away from those things. He helps with dinner almost every night. Pouring things in the pot and stirring are big hits. I sometimes use bigger pots so that it won't end up all over the kitchen when he stirs. Lately he's figured out the best part of cooking - tasting!

C.:

There is a wonderful cookbook called "Feed Me, I'm Your's" by Vicki Lansky. I have used it for new mothers for over 25 years. It has great ideas for newborns to 5 yr. olds.
It is no longer in print, but can be found on used book internet sites.

Best wishes!

J. M

I have a 2 boys, 2 and 3 years old. I have made cut out Christmas cookies. They liked to help push down the shapes to cut the dough. Then Later I frosted and they put the sprinkles on. I gave them each a plate and put 1 or 2 cookies on there and let them decorate. Of course they eat some of the sprinklles. But it's fun for them. Eventually I let them go play and I finish decorating the cookies. Here's recipes for Christmas cutout cookies . http://www.bakingchristmascookies.com/rec/recipe10,462.html

My 2 year old helps with PB&J and usually ends up licking the spoon most of the time. She helps me put stuff on the cookie sheet for baking. I also do fruit, veggie tray and she gets to fix her own plate.

Always so much fun with kids in the kitchen - be sure to have one of those disposable cameras on hand! So cake mixes and the like are fantastic - let your little one do a bit of stirring, that also works really well for koolaid and cocoa - we have these cup-like containers with snap on lids - I let my boys shake up the liquid to get it all mixed. Pudding's easy and you don't have to worry about burns. We did a cupcake decorating thing at my youngest boys' birthday party with a bunch of kids - aged 1 to 10 and that went over really well - had little saucers with different colored icing, sprinkles, gummy worms, cookie crumbles, and brown sugar - we had pretty flowers and muddy worm cupcakes and all of the children had fun.
My boys love to help with crescent rolls, too! Pigs in a blanket - little weenies rolled up in crescent rolls - and I give them paintbrushes to paint on the mustard and ketchup. ( you can add a bit of food color to the mustard to get amusing colors) the little plastic throw-away knives are easy for them to slice soft materials - like bananas, olives, cheese and relatively safe. The lunchable type pizzas are fun, cheap and easy - and not bad at all if you pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds or in the toaster oven or conventional oven to warm.
Tostadas(we have to call them spinwheels) are really fun with kids - you just set everything up for them and let them go crazy -you can buy the flat shells at the grocery store, a can of refried beans, some grated cheese - and any other toppings you like - and let them help make their own.
We also do superhero chip dogs - one of my boys would not eat hot dogs until I came up with this idea - cooked hot dog on a bun with doritoes poked into it - add a little cheese - kinda looks a bit like a dinosaur, too! Hereally loves to poke the chips into the hot dog - it's more fun than anything else.
Anything that you can mash and smash has been really good with my kids, too. Of course if its hot u have to let it cool, but they love watching it change from one shape into another. good luck and just make sure that they know that kitchen time is fun, but is not something they can do on their own.

My daughter will be two in february she is very helpful. We make homemade pizzas every friday and she helps with everything but puttin them in the oven. I just set her up with her stool at one end of the counter which is her "preperation station" she loves beating the dough and helping me squish it out on the pan. i help her spread the sauce on the pizza because that can get really messy if i just let her do it then i let her put the cheese and topping on by herself. she is always so proud of her pizzas she actually sits in front of the oven and watches them cook. Older kids really like helping with this too! there are some quick pizza recipes on allrecipes.com if you need them. Other than that if i am making something else I usually pre measure the ingredients and let her add them.

Here's a fun one for Christmas - reindeer noses. 3 ingredients: waffle pretzels (those little square ones - one bag makes two full batches), hershey kisses, red M&M's. Your toddler can help lay the pretzels out flat on a cookie sheet, help unwrap the kisses, then help place one kiss on each pretzel. Then it's Momma's turn - place the sheet in a oven preheated to about 200 and heat the kisses for 5-10 minutes until the are just mushy - test it with the end of a wooden spoon. Make sure you have your M&M's pre-sorted because now you have to move kind of fast! Place an M&M on each kiss and push it in a little. Voila - Rudolph's nose! The 2 year old won't be able to help much with the M&M's - that becomes a messy affair - but it can be fun to watch him try! I started my boys making these at age 2 and now it's the first thing they want to make every Christmas.

I let my 2 1/2 year old help me make his sister's bottles. I have to make bottles for Daycare every night, so once I get her in bed. To spend a little one on one time with him, I put him up on the counter and he gets to help me put the formula in the bottles then shake them up. I try to let him help me out as much as possible with her, so he feels like it's not all about his sister, because she does get a lot of my attention.
I would say baking cookies or even a cake would be a fun recipe to have him help with. Even if he gets a little messy he would probably have fun in the process.

check this out...
http://www.onmylist.com/category/food_drink/50_Fun_and_Fa...

my 29 month old typically helps me with just about everything. I let her stir in ingredients when I cook dinner. The very rare times that I do bake I put all the ingredients on the table and have her stand on the chair by the table and give her the ingredients and she just pours in. She sometimes tries to stir but it typically winds up a big mess!!!!! Just use your common sense when cooking. Obviously he won't be able to lift anything from teh oven. I also tell my dd all the steps we do when cooking and she understands that only mommy can handle the hot casserole dish or anything that goes in the oven. She will stand and watch me as I take it out. hope this helps!!! good luck!