Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Toddler Time Taker


It seemed like such a simple idea when I read it on someone's blog (sorry, I can't remember where or I'd give you credit!). Simply place a big mixing bowl in the sink, add some water, and give the bored and pesky toddler some spices to mix in his soup. So, when my bored and pesky toddler wouldn't let me fix dinner tonight, I set up a cooking station for him, too. It worked! He was entertained for over a half hour!

Actually, it worked too well. My spice cabinet is not all that well stocked and it didn't take him long to go through the old or unused spices. I can't spare my chili powder or cinnamon! LOL At the rate he'll go through the spices, even buying the cheapie 50c spices will cost more than I'm willing to spend. So here's where my ingenuity comes into play. Salt is cheap and comes in mass quantities. I refilled the empty spice bottles with salt. I had noticed Matthew's fondness for the red paprika so I added a couple drops of food coloring to the salt. Shake it up and the color disperses to the whole bottle. Now we have a rainbow of salt for him to use next time he "cooks." I'm hoping it will smell better than the celery seed, too!

It works for me!