Eyes on Early Years Volume 19 | Page 15

Edible recipes Cookie dough – This has become a popular dessert among the sweet toothed. Mix butter and icing sugar first, then add flour and knead the dough. It has a different consistency from playdough, and adds variety to messy play experiences. You can add spices like cinammon powder for flavour and scent. Crushed Marie biscuits – This resembles sand and is great for babies and toddlers who are still mouthing. They can explore safely while experiencing the sandy texture of the crumbly biscuits. You can add a bit of water afterwards to create a clumpy texture. Plain yogurt and food colouring – Scoop the white coloured yogurt into a large tray then add a tiny drop of different food dyes. Encourage children to spread the colours, make swirls or simply mix them to see the colours changing. Or you could blend different colours in individual pots to make edible paint. Mashed root vegetables – Boil or steam peeled sweet potato, carrots and peas, then place them on a tray. Let the children mash them up. The trio of vegetables will stimulate children’s tastebuds, hopefully paving the way for healthy eating in the early years. Remember to check with parents for any allergies. Cooked, coloured spaghetti – There’s just something about oodles of spaghetti that makes it so fun to get our hands on. Younger children will be happy to use their fingers to curl around the long strands of spaghetti, while the older ones will be attracted to using tongs and different utensils to pick up the spaghetti. Add food dye after spaghetti has been cooked al dente.