My two and half year old daughter loves to help me cook in the kitchen. There are definitely lots of pieces she can’t help with, but when I put my mind to it there are often things I can have her do. Getting your toddler to make a quesadilla is a great and safe way for them to learn about helping in the kitchen.
I was inspired to have my future kids help in the kitchen before I even had kids. I used to teach the 4&5 year old class at church and one of my students was especially helpful. When he “‘graduated” from my class he would still stop by after class and help me clean up my classroom. Once I got pregnant, I stumbled upon an article about how to raise a helpful child. Thinking back on that little boy, I knew I wanted my daughter to also be that helpful. The main thing I remember reading was to let them help when they are young even when it isn’t actually helpful.
There are still days I ban my daughter from the kitchen as I just try to get something out on the table while juggling a needy baby, but I try to get her “help” as much as I can.
How to Help Your Toddler Make a Quesadilla
Supplies:
- Learning Tower (optional)
- Skillet
- Plate
- Butter
- Tortilla
- Shredded cheese
- Toppings
Setup:
To start, I prepared a few things to make the process as safe and clean as possible. To avoid having to transfer a loaded tortilla onto the skillet, I took the cold skillet, put a little piece of butter on it, and placed a tortilla on top. This allowed my daughter to build her quesadilla inside the skillet before I moved it to the stovetop. I also put all of the ingredients on a plate so she didn’t need to stick her hands in all the food containers. I used mozzarella cheese, ham, pepperoni, and basil.
Creating:
My toddler then had a complete blast making her own quesadilla. She put pretty much everything I put on the plate on her quesadilla, but there were a couple pieces of pepperoni and cheese that she asked if she could eat right away.
After she built it, I just folded it in half and put on the stove. I moved the tortilla around a little bit as the butter underneath melted to spread out the butter.
Voila, a super yummy quesadilla! I cut it into fourths since it ended up so huge. She was so proud of it that she insisted that she got to carry her plate over to the table. As I quickly made one for myself, she continued to tell me all about “her dilla”.
Making a quesadilla was a great and easy way to let my toddler help safely in the kitchen. When she is older she will be able to choose her own ingredients and do the actual stovetop cooking. I envision a future of blueberry bacon quesadillas and peanut butter macaroni quesadillas. And from there she can cook me four course meals every day. Ok, maybe that last part won’t happen, but it is nice to dream as I clean up way more dishes than a toddler and baby should be able to make for one lunch.
If you and your toddler enjoyed making these quesadillas, try out some of my other ideas like tortilla PB&Js and bagel pizzas.
