To do: Let your child practice food preparation in a safe setting.
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: Fruits and vegetables, strainer or colander, peeler or grater
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Invite your child to practice cutting fruits and vegetables at home.

Children are very capable, and if you start giving them a little responsibility early on, they will quickly build upon those skills to become even more competent!

How to Get Started: Buy a few easy to cut vegetables and fruits. Let your child rinse them off by hand, and place them in a strainer or on a cutting board.

Next, with you leading the activity, show your child what to do to each item to get it ready to eat. Here are a few examples of what your child could try, depending on how comfortable you are with their abilities:

Grate carrots
Cut stems off of strawberries
Peel a cucumber
Rinse blueberries and look for stems to throw out
Peel and slice bananas

What your child will learn: Practical skills required for food preparation. They will be able to incorporate these skills to help you in the kitchen or prepare their own snacks. They will also refine fine motor skills by manipulating a grater or peeling

For your older child: Fractions are easy to practice while cutting fruits and vegetables. Say you have a tomato. Ask your child to first cut the tomato in half. Then, cut each half into halves (or thirds, or quarters, whatever you like!) Your child will become comfortable with this language through practical application! You could ask your child to hand you 2 quarters, for example. Or put two-thirds of the pieces in a salad.

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