Most children love the sweet taste of fruit. Fruit salad is another great first recipe for children to build their cooking skills. It’s pretty and tasty. There’s no reason to turn on the stove. It’s a flexible recipe, you can use what you have on hand. And it’s a great way to get in those fruit servings.
Even very young toddlers can help peel a banana. And with assistance and supervision, they even cut that banana. I like to use a dull plastic knife for two year olds. If they can manage that, then they can graduate to a dull butter knife. If the thought of a knife worries you, bananas can even be cut by cheese spreaders. I like to introduce children to knife safety though, and show them how to handle a knife and to keep their fingers out of the way. I make sure they know they can only use the knife when I’m there to help.
Other easy fruits to cut are peeled apples, melons, and pears. For little ones, I slice the apples and then let them cut the slices into bite sized pieces. Children who can handle scissors can use kitchen shears to chop up dates or dried plums (prunes).
Toddlers can add handfuls of raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruit. They can also spoon canned mandarin oranges, peaches, or pineapple from a bowl. I avoid having them dig in a can because of the sharp edges some can openers leave. They can also throw in fresh berries, or thawed frozen ones. Let you child stir up the fruit salad and place it in serving bowls. They can sprinkle it with cinnamon, or add a few nuts or sunflower seeds.
You can show your child how the acidity in lemon or orange juice keeps the bananas and apples from turning brown. Older children can do an experiment to see which works better.
Enjoy your fruit salad, and be sure to thank your young cook.
More Ideas for Fruit Salad: