Toddler Time at Home: Fruit-Filled Friendship Yogurt

Engage in a healthy and artful snack-making experience with your early learner in this week’s Toddler Time at Home sponsored by First 5 San Diego! Through this activity, design and enjoy a fruit-filled yogurt bowl together, which gives your child the opportunity to make choices, build fine-motor skills and explore with sensory play!  

AGE: 1+ (with adult support)

TIME FRAME:  30 minutes

SUPPLIES:

• Bowl  
• Yogurt 
• Two different kinds of fruit 
• Spoons for mixing, scooping and eating 

1. Prep space and collect materials. Gather all materials and prepare space for cooking with your child. Make sure all elements are at a toddler-friendly height and that supplies used are safe to use. It is recommended to prep and lay out everything beforehand for easy access.  

2. Make the base. Begin by scooping yogurt into the bowl. Encourage your child to explore with using a spoon to scoop and transfer the yogurt into the bowl. Have your child count each scoop or count together! Keep an eye on the scooping and fill to your desired amount. 

3. Add the fruit. Pick two different kinds of  fruit for your yogurt bowl (the two different kinds represent friendship!). Then, add the fruit to the yogurt. Encourage your child to create patterns or freely add their fruit to the bowl. Ask open-ended questions and explore different ways of laying out the fruit. Fruit can also be mixed and mashed inside.  

4. Enjoy your Fruit-Filled Friendship Yogurt! After your child has finished designing their fruit bowl, have them observe and tell you about their creation and the choices they made for it. Then, enjoy eating it together!

• Create your own Fruit-Filled Friendship Recipe! Write down each ingredient and the amount of fruits to add.
• Use the fruit to explore patterns and shapes.
• Add different toppings such as honey or granola.
• Have your child help with washing or preparing the fruit!  

Cooking experiences are full of exploration and weave together a wide array of learning opportunities into one activity! Through cooking routines your child can build on fine-motor skills, imaginative play, empathy building, language development and more. You can incorporate counting and color recognition through the ingredients you select. Encourage conversation and talk about the process with your child during the art and cooking experience. 

Recommended Reading:    

• Fruits: Healthy Eating with My Plate by Nancy Dickmann 
• Eat Your Colors by Amanda Miller 
• My Friends by Taro Gomi  

Preschool Learning Foundations (Visual Arts and Nutrition) 
48 Months:

• Notice and communicate about objects or forms that appear in art. 
• Identify different kinds of foods. 
• Indicate food preferences that reflect familial and cultural practices. 

60 Months:

• Communicate about elements appearing in art (such as line, texture or perspective), and describe how objects are positioned in the artwork. 
• Identify a larger variety of foods and may know some of the related food groups. 
• Indicate food preferences based on familial and cultural practices and on some knowledge of healthy choices.