Toddler Food

I love making toddler food.  Portions are so tiny you can do anything, and it is hardly any work. Be artistic and sculpt little animals. Play with color schemes.  Try different flavor combinations. Even if your experiment is a fail and you have to throw it out, you’re not losing much. That tiny toddler portion done again is not going to break the bank. 

Once you let your imagination run wild you’ll find plenty of your own ways to make your toddler’s food fun. Here are just a few of my starting suggestions. Before we look at fun, though, a few reminders:

Keep toddler food:

• Varied

• Vitamin-rich

• Preservative free (when possible)

• Bursting with flavor and freshness.

Got it? Okay, here are some ways to make that wonderfully healthy food into something your toddler will actually enjoy eating. 

Cookie cutter everything! Buy fun animal cookie cutter and cookie cutter your toddler’s portions before you serve them up. You can cut teddy bears out of his peanut butter sandwiches (eat the scraps yourself if you don’t like waste!) but that’s not all—the cookie cutter can also form that glob of rice or mashed potatoes on his plate to something enchanting, especially if you use  a dot of ketchup or vegetable to put features on the face.

Take advantage of color – The first thing your toddler will see when he looks at his plate is the colors on it, so make them fun. Color set the mood for the meal, and to a small child’s thinking, the brighter and more colorful the better.  Use fruits and vegetables to add a touch of natural color to everything. 

Have your toddler help in the kitchen—there’s no food so fun as the toddler has made himself! Sure, he’s not quite ready to graduate that chef’s course yet, but there’s lots your little one can do if you’re there at his elbow, helping and providing guidance as you make making food for toddler together.

A rose by any other name – doesn’t smell as sweet. As you make up healthy, tasty toddler recipes, give them names that are fun, playful, and toddler-friendly. Make names up even if you don’t use your own recipes, but use recipes from a book with boring titles— the cook always gets renaming prerogatives. 

Whip it up in the food processor and make tasty smoothies for your toddler, full of fruit and vegetable goodness. No matter how many times you serve them up, a toddler smoothie will always have a certain fun, coolness factor. And you get extra points if you let your toddler stand on a step stool and push the blender buttons, with guidance from mom. 

Have fun making tasty and fun food for the kids! If you keep your eyes peeled for inspiration you’ll find it—apple swans, sticky rice snowmen, carrot scarecrow are just some of the fun things you can do to that little portion of toddler food.  Pinterest is a fun place to go for visual inspiration, and once your imagination starts working, you won’t even need anyone to give you ideas—you’ll be proudly sharing pictures of your own child’s dinner with the world!

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