How to Give Your Toddler More Independence in the Kitchen

My kids always want to help me in the kitchen and I LOVE their enthusiasm. But at two and three years old safety concerns and practicality limit their independence in the kitchen. That’s why I love this incredibly simple recipe for fake Olive Bread by Mother Goose Time. I opened ingredients and operated the oven, they did the rest.

Step 1 – Wash Hands.

Step 2 – Slice Olives and Dried Apricots.

The olives are nice and soft and easy for them to hold and cut. This is a fabulous next step after they have mastered bananas. The kids and I have had better luck using butter knives instead of plastic knives. As they are learning, they tend to put more force on the knife and we have broken our fair share of plastic knives.

Owl is still working on controlling the knife, so he uses a two handed approach.

The dried apricots are more difficult to slice, but provided a welcome challenge to slow down my three year old while my two year old finished slicing (and eating) his olives.

We kept a small container in the center for them to place all the sliced olives and apricots that weren’t eaten during the process. They were tasting for quality control. A lot. I recommend lots and lots of olives.

Step 3 – Knead Olives and Apricots Into Bread Dough.

Ladybug preferred to knead the dough and then carefully place olives and apricots.

Owl went for more of a mush it all together approach.

Step 4 – Make Rolls and Place Them On the Baking Sheet.

The recipe called for rolls of dough, but our blobs were more conducive to cutting and placing on the sheet.

The kids were thrilled to be allowed to place the dough on the baking sheets themselves. I highly recommend using a big baking sheet and making sure you have plenty of extra room. Using dough that doesn’t spread helps too.