Hellobee

Montessori families love to get children involved in the kitchen and helping to prepare their own snacks as early as possible. Today I’m showing you some really easy ways children as young as twelve months can be involved with food preparation using bananas! Bananas are soft so they are easy to cut, in most areas bananas are affordable and best of all children love them.

All of these activities are great for building concentration, coordination and the child’s self confidence. The child learns they are very capable. They are using lots of muscles in their hands and arms and these are fantastic for the child’s developing fine motor skills.

Above is banana peeling at twelve months. I have sliced the banana with skin on and made a small cut on the side. I have demonstrated to my child how to peel the skin off. Supervision is required with all of these activities and there is no harm in helping the child if they are having trouble or can’t quite work out how to do it.

Slicing a banana with a crinkle cutter at eighteen months. We use this crinkle cutter.

Slicing a banana with a knife at two years. A child may be able to slice the banana with a butter knife also.

Using tongs to transfer banana from the cutting board to a bowl or serving dish.

Preparing a banana snack to share at two years. We have used bamboo cocktail picks but toothpicks would work well too. This is also a fabulous idea to use with melon balls. The cocktail picks make it easy for sharing and for young children to eat in a group setting.

Mashing a banana at two years. This is a good way to get young children involved in making banana bread or banana muffins. We use this mini masher.

I have only listed the age as a guide. It’s never too late to start practical life activities with your child and many of these are still really good activities to do with a three or four year old child!