Valentine’s Day with a Toddler

Peyton and I jumped in the kitchen this week to make some Valentine’s treats to share with all of you! I came up with a couple of very simple ideas that are kid friendly. Nothing melts the heart of a grandparent more than homemade treats from a cute little granddaughter! We are sharing these today so that if you would like to do them too, you can gather all the things you need in time for Valentine’s Day!

Although I could have made my own dough and used heart shaped cookie cutters, Peyton has no patience for that. So I took a little shortcut and purchased these Pillsbury Ready to Bake Heart Cutout cookies! I simply through them in the oven and they were ready to decorate in ten minutes.

I used this sweet Rae Dunn Cookie Baking Sheet to catch all the stray sprinkles, because there were MANY stray sprinkles with Peyton in the kitchen. We simply covered the cookie in icing and threw on a few sprinkles and Peyton was VERY into it. This is such a simply and fun activity to do with your toddler.

While we are here, I’d also like to talk about this Montessori Helper Stool that I picked up from Etsy for Peyton’s first birthday. It has been a lifesaver for us. It helps keep Peyton interested in what I’m doing in the kitchen so that I can get some things done when it’s just her and I at home. It is designed for your toddler to be able to climb in and out by themselves, but Peyton isn’t quite into that yet. She has to be placed in and out of the stool but she will figure it out soon. She loves being (almost) the same height as me and being involved in the kitchen.

And this was our final product! We also made these brownies, used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them out and drizzled some pink candy melt over top and BAM! a beautiful Valentine’s treat. When you have little kids involved, it’s not always easy to make the most elaborate desserts and treats, but getting them involved in the kitchen helps make them a better eater, and makes the treats all the more sweet and special! We packaged up all the treats and sent them to all the grandparents and Uncle Matt. We hope you enjoy these Valentine’s Day treats too!