Fruity Colored Pancakes

Child care providers and moms know that starting toddlers and preschoolers’ day off with a little fruit and color to their pancakes adds a variety to breakfast along with some learning.

With the toddler or preschooler, make a batch of pancake batter. You need 1 bowl for each color you make your pancakes. Divide the batter into bowls, add food coloring as desired, stir and the batter is ready. Here you see blue batter and green batter. (talk about measuring, how much, what happens to the dry when wet ingredients is added, how many drops of coloring to add, how will it look, will it be dark or light….)

Introducing a variety of fruit to young children helps them to accept those fruits and continue to eat them throughout his life. Using fresh fruit is preferable but may not always be available. Watch canned fruit since in may be packed in sugar or corn syrup. Check the label and look for fruits packed in their own juices or water.Be careful with fruits like grapes, raisins and other dried fruits. These can pose a choking hazard and should be chopped up appropriately. 

A key to getting toddlers and preschoolers to eatfruits is to make a wide variety of choices available. Remember to be persistent because a child will likely reject a new fruit at first, but keep serving it and then one day she’ll surprise you and eat it.

Adults need to be sure to eat fruits with a child. Set an example, you can’t expect a child to eat raspberries if you don’t.

The child/children can help get small bowls or cups ready and put fruit in them. Each bowl of fruit has its own serving spoon. (Talk about the names of the fruits, the characteristics, shapes of fruits, textures, seeds or seedless…)

The pancake batter can be scooped onto the griddle and the fruit added or the batter can be scooped into a bowl and the fruit added to the bowl of batter then it can be poured onto the griddle. (Count the number of fruits, scoops of pancake batter, count the minutes to cook on one side and then the other, ….)

Which ever you decide, it will be the safest for the child and adult.

Yum! hurrah! “I did it!”

It may not look “pretty” to you but it will to a child who chose what color of batter or what colors of batter and which fruits for their own fruity colored pancakes!