Montessori At Home – Cooking with A Toddler

In the last few weeks Alfie has started using his Kitchen to make real meals. Needless to say I’ve been cooking up a storm as I try to make the most of this interest – for the very first time in my life I’m baking!

Blackberry Picking

I was delighted to stumble across a blackberry bush thriving in the hedgerow along our lane. I still can’t believe I live somewhere that has not only a lane but also a hedgerow.

For me blackberries are always a bittersweet sight. Their glossy black arrival spells the end of lazy hazy summer days and the scratch of briars was quickly echoed by scratching new school uniforms.

Last week Alfie and I went blackberry picking. Claude and Indi came too but they weren’t very helpful!

Picking blackberries is the PERFECT Montessori Practical Life activity! It combines the fine motor work and pincer grip that is so important for pre-writing strength, the briars and the ease that blackberries turn to mush is the perfect control of error. Oh and it great fun!

Toddler’s Blackberry Crumble

Ingredients

500g Blackberries (or 250g apple + 250g blackberries)

75g Ground Almond

75g Chopped Hazelnuts

75g Brown Sugar

75g Porridge Oats

75g Butter

Method

1. Mix all the dry ingredients

2. Melt the butter in a warm (not hot) pan

3. Add the dry ingredients into the pan

4. Placed the fruit into an oven dish

5. Spoon the crumble over the top

6. Bake 20 minutes on a medium heat.

How Can A Toddler Help?

When we finally gathered enough to make a crumble Alfie brought the blackberries inside and washed them. I weighed our ingredients and he mixed them. I turned on the stove and checked it was cool enough for him to use, he stirred the ingredients into the butter. With my instruction he put the berries in the dish and scooped the crumble on top. I used the oven. He served it to his Dad.

I COULD NOT BE PROUDER!