Guest Author - Erika Krull

Here is an easy kid-tested recipe that your children can make together. All siblings need to feel that they have a role and a purpose in the family. This is easy to do when you use kid-friendly recipes that allow for an assembly line approach, or for everyone to put together their own snack while sharing ingredients. The more time they spend working together happily, the less time the kids have for fighting!!

The following instructions are given with assignments for 2 children and an adult. You can adjust these directions to the size of your family and your kids’ ages. Print this article and have it for your children to follow. You could make a copy for each child and highlight their part, or highlight one copy with each child being a different color.

Children who take on a mentoring role get the benefit of the “tutor effect.” By teaching others, they actually learn and understand information in more complex ways than the learner does. Give all of your children an opportunity to teach their siblings. Older children can take turns reading the directions aloud. Or, the adult can coach a younger child to teach the others exactly what to do.

PB and J Tortilla Rollups

Ingredients

1 small (6”) tortilla per child, corn or flour
Peanut Butter
Jelly, fruit preserves, spreadable fruit

2 regular spoons (for spreading), napkins or plates for serving, pizza cutter or knife
Optional – paper napkins to wrap around the rollup for easier handling

Adult/older child: If you have jelly that is very “globby”, you may want to break it up in a small bowl first. This will make spreading a lot easier, especially for a younger child who will do well just to do the spreading! Spreadable fruit will be easier for a very young child to handle.

Child 1: Scoop out about two spoonfuls of peanut butter onto the tortilla. Spread it around with the back of the spoon. Be sure to do the peanut butter first! It won’t spread so well over a layer of jelly.

Child 2: Scoop out about two spoonfuls of jelly onto the peanut butter tortilla. Spread it around with the back of the spoon.

Child 1: Carefully roll up the tortilla until it is all rolled up. As you roll, gently press down to help the peanut butter stick everything together. This will help the whole thing stay together a little more easily. Be extra careful if you are using a corn tortilla because they can fall apart.

Adult/older child: For younger children, you may want to cut the rollups in half or thirds. They can pick it up more easily this way. Also, they are not going to be able to pay attention to jelly falling out way on the other end!

Variations – Jelly-Only Rollup, Peanut Butter-Only Rollup, adding cinnamon sugar, ready made cheesecake filling, frosting, deli meat and cheese. Keep your imagination going!