Mealtime Activity: 3 Years

Allow your child to help you make a simple meal in the kitchen, such as a veggie pizza using a pre-cooked crust. Ask him to help you get some of the ingredients out of the refrigerator (e.g., "Now we need to get the mushrooms, broccoli, and cucumbers out of the fridge." Using hand over hand assistance and a dull child's  knife, help him spread cream cheese onto the pizza crust and place the cut vegetables on top. As you work, use lots of action words (e.g., cut, spread, etc.) and color words (e.g., orange, green, white).

You can also focus on the concepts of "more than" and "less than" by asking him, "Do we want more broccoli on our pizza than carrots?" When talking through the steps, emphasize the sequence and what's coming next (e.g., "First, we need to wash the vegetables. Next, we will cut them."). At the end of the activity, ask him to recall the ingredients you used and then ask, “How did we make our pizza?”

Possible Intervention Strategies & Supports

• If your child is having difficulty following directions, use cues such as pointing or holding up your fingers. For example, hold up one finger and say "Get the bread." Hold up as second finger and say, "AND bring it to the table." If he gets the bread but can't remember what to do next, repeat the direction and point to the table.

• Some children need help feeling where food is in their mouths and developing the muscles needed to move their tongues in a functional way. You can work on strengthening these muscles by having him eat healthy chewy foods, such as dried fruit (e.g., prunes, apricots). When the food gets stuck in his teeth on the sides of his mouths, he will be forced to move his tongue from side to side to get it out. The oral-motor stimulation involved in eating chewy (and even crunchy) foods can also have a calming/soothing effect on many children. Talk to your pediatrician for suggestions on selecting and introducing new foods.

• Allowing your child to help with food shopping is a great way to reinforce early literacy skills in an everyday activity. For example, point to items on your shopping list as you read them and then show how you cross them off once you've added them to your basket/cart.

Tips

If you're still hesitant about having him use a child's knife, you can ask him to help in other ways, such as placing the cut pieces into bowls. If you're using a recipe to make the meal, be sure to point out pictures and numbers to your child. This will help visually reinforce the steps that you are following and will also show him how reading is an important part of doing lots of different things!

Family Handout

Click here to download an editable one-page handout of this age range's mealtime activity, interventions, and tips.