3 Princesses and a Prince Academy: Toddler Talk Thursday

This weeks Toddler Talk is in the kitchen! We love hanging out in the kitchen! Cooking, baking, eating and playing!

I realized this morning when I was thinking about this topic, that Princess V really isn't a toddler anymore, and honestly neither is Princess C. So I'm going to try and focus thursday's topics on Princess R.

Since we spend so much time in the kitchen, I do try and get all the kids involved. Here's a few of the things I let the kids help out with in the kitchen.

- measuring and pouring

- stirring

- licking spoons and bowls

One of our favorite dinners to cook together is homemade pizza. We make them personal pan size (round cake pans!). So each Princess gets her own dough to roll out. After it's risen, they are perfectly capable of helping spread the sauce, toss on some cheese, and add the pepperoni's. Princess R I still help roll out her dough, but adding the toppings is something she doesn't need any help with. We just have to watch and make sure some ends up on the pizza, and not all straight to her mouth, lol.

Besides meal prep, I also give them "chores" in the kitchen. Some toddler appropriate chores I have found are

- setting the table

- cleaning off own dishes

- rinsing dishes for the washer (gets very wet, but they enjoy it). This has become Princess R's favorite chore these days. I wasn't paying great attention one day, and while I had dishes soaking in the sink, she pushed the stool over, climbed up and turned on the water - straight into an already full sink. By the time I noticed we had a waterfall in the kitchen and a pool on the floor.

Now there are some things I prefer the kids stay out of the kitchen while I'm doing. These would include

- working with raw meat

- putting things in and out of the oven

- having a burner on, on the stove (especially since we have a gas stove)

- using knives

Some days it's just impossible to keep Princess R out of the kitchen while I do these things. So instead of buying a gate for both sides of our kitchen (she can probably climb it anyway), I let her play in the tupperware drawer. We have these 2 foot long drawers in our kitchen that I just love! I put all the plastic tupperware in the bottom drawer. So if I need her distracted I just open it up, and let her have at it. Usually the other Princesses will come running and play with her too. They've created all kind of pretend foods and just love to have me try them.

I've also recently put their play kitchen in the dining room. So if I won't let them help, they can still "cook" with Mommy, but stay safe.

And of course decorating cookies is always a blast and toddler friendly