Busy Little Hands: Food Play!

by Amy Palanjian

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Busy Little Hands: Food Play! is one of a series of new activity books for preschoolers and their caregivers. Due out 10th Nov 2020 from Storey Publishing, it's 48 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is an absolutely exuberant, brightly colored, and fun little book chock full of great ideas to engage young kids in mastering simple cooking skills. The text is very simple and the included recipes are well photographed, tasty and will appeal to almost everyone. The dishes do not require cooking or baking and food prep steps don't require cutting with sharp tools. The steps which require some (minor) help from an adult helper are clearly marked in highlighted text sidebars in each recipe tutorial.

There are gentle tips in the text for youngsters covering manners and etiquette (it's ok to like different foods, before having seconds, make sure everyone has had firsts, it's not nice to "yuck" someone else's "yum"). The foods are tasty and nutritionally responsible. Nearly all of the recipes are vegetarian, and some of them are vegan. There is one included recipe which mentions and shows lunchmeat as an ingredient, but could easily be converted to vegetarian by substituting meat for vegetarian friendly ingredients. All of the recipes have clear photos included in the tutorials. Serving suggestions are appealing and appropriate.

This would be a superlative gift, excellent classroom or library group selection for activity groups, a wonderful parent/caregiver activity, or even for babysitters and child-minders looking to up their playfood activity time game with their small charges. Cooking allows children to improve fine motor skills, gives them a feeling of accomplishment and control.

I loved this one. It's simple but so well done. The recipes are simple and the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.