Week Two Practical Life Cutting Bananas

Practical life is such an important area of learning that I want to really focus on this year.  It's hard to anticipate what you think your child is capable of without pushing too hard too early, but without denying your child the ability to learn and grow as an individual.  I decided to give banana cutting a try.

I cut the tip off of the banana, so that E could first practice taking the peel off the banana.

This was E's favorite part.  She did this quite easily, but tried to eat the peel.  When it came to actually cutting the banana, first I used the knife to show E how to cut the banana into coins.  Next, I gave E the knife (it's non-serrated, it came in a toddler cutlery set), and held her hand to help her cut the banana.  Lastly, I attempted to let E cut the banana on her own. 

This was her first time with cutting any food on her own, so she wasn't quite able to master it.  That's perfectly okay though!  Practice makes perfect, and we definitely practiced a lot this week!

I wanted to point out an interesting tidbit.  Bananas were the first food I ever fed E, and it used to be her absolute favorite!  Then somewhere around a year old, she started spitting it out whenever I gave it to her, so eventually I stopped trying, and she just ate other fruits.  I debated even doing this activity because I assumed she wouldn't eat the banana.  I was absolutely sure I would be the one eating it.  But then, every piece that we cut together, E would pop it into her mouth!  She ended up eating the whole thing!  So everything else aside, this was a win in my book!