Today we made some salsa with the two-year olds. It was really simple. A can of corn, a can of black beans (rinsed and drained), about a cup of mild tomato salsa, and then tortilla chips to eat it with. Here are a few tips on simple salsa making (and no digs on how it's not REAL salsa since we didn't make the tomato part ourselves!):
- Get a REALLY BIG BOWL and LOTS of long-handled spoons for mixing. When you have 4 or more toddlers stirring at the same time with the corn flying, you'll understand why! We only have 10 kids. If you have more children than that, consider making two batches in different bowls so you have space for all the helpers who want to take part.
- If you have a chef in your class, invite him or her to help you drain the corn or drain and rinse the beans. In our classroom it's tough to let kids help with this part, but they were interested.
- Let them help you open the cans as much as you can. You may ask them to hold the can or try to turn the handle.
- For serving, put the salsa in bowls and provide spoons. The kids may not want to dip their chips into something they don't know about yet. Some kids may just want to dig in and eat the salsa like a side dish. We had several who didn't touch the chips, one who didn't touch the salsa, one who picked out and ate all the corn, and several who ate everything but ate the salsa separately from the chips.
Allergy Note: Got a corn allergy in your class? Omit the corn. The beans still taste good with the salsa on them. Make sure you use something other than corn tortilla chips if you use chips at all.
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