One of the greatest sensory and imaginitive play experiences we do is pretend cooking with real ingredients. I've been doing this with L since he was one. At that age it was very simple...just some noodles, a bowl of water, and some utensils.
At age 2 it became more involved with a bigger variety of ingredients. At 2 He loved mixing things in the water and the pretend play was beginning to come into the picture. At 3 1/2 though, this is so far my most favorite age for this activity! Not only is the fun of mixing things still there, but the pretend play is also now a big part of it. He loves playing chef!
I've also gotten a bit smarter as the years go by on how to deal with the mess of this fun activity!
The Ingredients
Tea bags, salt, coffee, nuts, seeds, crackers, rice,
dried pasta, bread, oatmeal, sweet potato slices, dried beans
A simple dough ball of flour and water.
and the BEST part...confetti eggs!
No, not a "real" ingredient but around Easter time I stock up on these to use throughout the year on all sorts of projects. I get them at Walmart. It's the fun of cracking eggs and the colorful suprise inside that made this the highlight of the activity. L went through 3 cartons!
The Setup
I use to just lay out a table cloth with the pots and pans and bowl of water on it. It made a mess but it was manageable. Now though, we have one of those long storage bins and I put the pots and pans in there so for the most part the spills stay contained! It's muuuch easier this way!
He learned how to use a grater
Cracking the confetti eggs were his favorite!
He used the dough to make a pie
and some ice cream for me :)
I really believe this is one of those "must do" with your kids kind of things. It has been so cool to watch how L's play has evolved over the years doing this.
It is truly an amazing sensory and imaginitive play experience!
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