After putting it off for ages (we don’t have the space! It will be messy! The cat will eat the snacks!) I have finally sorted out a snack station for Frida. It’s important to me that she can get food for herself if she is hungry without having to rely on us, and I think it sends a message to her that we trust her and her ability to self-regulate her food intake – one of the reasons we chose to do Baby-Led Weaning.
We live in a small house – I like to call it an ever evolving space! – and the only place which made sense for a snack station was the IKEA KALLAX unit next to her play kitchen. I have moved all of her play accessories into the play kitchen unit itself (apart from the big basket of play food which I have kept in the KALLAX).
I have explained to Frida that if she would like a snack, she is to put it on a plate and carry it over to the table. I imagine that at first I will have to supervise and prompt her, but I am hopeful that soon she will need little or no supervision.
I have included:
Snacks. I have put out fruit (I cut a small cross into the top of the tangerines to make them easier to peel, plain oat cakes in a container which Frida can open, and oat and fruit bars in a container which Frida can open (I snipped the top of the wrapped so she can open these by herself).
Water in a jug, drinking glass, and small flannels to use as a cloth for spills. I have only filled the jug around a third full to minimise spills. This jug is the one we have been using.
Plates, crinkle cutter, knife. As I’ve written before, we have chosen to trust Frida with real (breakable!) crockery. So far nothing has been broken. This is the crinkle cutter we use.
I need to add some hooks for her apron and a tea towel, and watch Frida to see if this space needs further changes, but for now I am hopeful that it will work well!
Looks great, can’t wait to hear how it goes, bet Friday will be very excited about it!! We set up a cupboard for our sons snacks when he was one, he’s 18months now, and he adores having it and being able to go to it. Also has his own shelf in the fridge with things like baked beans, cheese, deli meats, avocado, boiled eggs. Best things we ever set up! For drinks he just has a tiny glass jug I fill multiple times a day, haven’t quite worked out a good place for a proper water dispenser, though I know he’d play with it if left with access to alot more water. Cannot seem to find a crinkle cutter here in Australia but he has an egg slicer, apple cutter/corer and kids butter knife for trying to cut banana up.
A snack station is a fabulous idea. I have set one up for my daughter who is 3, however she will devour all the oat and fruit bars I put in a container for her in one go! It may be the novelty but I’m not sure. I’d like to note this can be just after breakfast too (and she has hearty brekkies of porridge, cereal and fruit) so she can’t be that hungry. I guess I will have to only put one bar in the pot per day.
I know the whole point is about giving them control (and hopefully putting an end to constant ‘snack’ demands!) but any suggestions on encouraging self-control/regulation would be most appreciated! I am probably expecting too much from the little soul! x
I’d like to set up something like this for my son (14 months). However he is very keen on ‘dumping’ at the moment (well, he’s been keen on it since he could do it and doesn’t look like stopping any time soon!). I am pretty sure that the items would all be on the floor/in random places in the house very very quickly. Does that happen at your house?