The Science Baby

Shrove Tuesday is pancake day! But hey, we’re all out here doing our best, so every day can be pancake day if we say it is!

If you’ve got young kids to feed and entertain, then pancakes can be a great enriching baking activity that they can get involved in. And these toddler-friendly banana pancakes are an ideal quick and easy recipe that will get you thick, cakey american-style pancakes on the plate in less than 15 minutes.

Naturally sweetened by the overripe bananas you just know your toddler has abandoned, they’re a healthy option for baby-led weaning, toddlers with a fickle appetite, or adults wanting to try something new!

Cook for your toddler

When your little one starts eating, probably from around 5-6 months old, it might feel that you’ve had to add on an extension to your brain, to start to consider and cater to their developing tastes and needs. Whereas before you might have thrown together meals and snacks for the adults in the house without a second thought, now you need to consider suitable foods for each age, offering a varied and healthy range of foods, balancing spoon feeding with finger foods, and catering to an ever changing appetite. I don’t know about you, but I found weaning stressful!

If you want to make healthy foods from scratch, but don’t want to waste time, energy, and ingredients on something that’s just as likely to be thrown across the kitchen as thrown down their throats, then these toddler-friendly banana pancakes are ideal. Taking only 15 mintues to prepare (even less if a toddler isn’t involves), and 2 minutes to cook, you can have the whole family fed in under half an hour.

And while the jury’s out on quite how badly sugar really affects your little one, it’s always best to try and offer foods that are low in added sugar, at least for the first few years. These pancakes fit the bill, with their only sweetness coming from the bananas.

Toddlers are notorious for changing their mind about what they want to eat too, especially just as you’re serving up whatever meal you’ve slaved over. Fortunately, these pancakes can keep for a day in the fridge ready for them to change their mind again. And, once you’ve made up the mix, you can keep that for a day or two in the fridge as well, to minimise the work and mess you make from each day to the next.

Cook with your toddler

We’re big believers in montessori-style enrichment for developing minds over here. Even though Maria Montessori’s educational scheme is over 100 years old, it’s more relevant than ever, and Science Baby has always been involved in whatever we’re doing, whether it’s cleaning, cooking, gardening or DIY. Encoraging children to have hands-on experience with real world tasks helps to build independence, self-worth and self-reliance, and even though Science Baby s barely 2 years old, we see him reaping the rewards of that approach every day.

As you can see from the video of us making these pancakes together, he’s confident in this adult space, and shows great fine and gross motor control in stirring and handling the cooking implements. He listens when I tell him to be cautious, and he’s watchful and patient for the steps of the process.

All of that is thanks to the fact that whenever I’m cooking for him, I try to cook with him as well. Now don’t get me wrong, it would be a heck of a lot easier, tidier, and quicker if I didn’t have a toddler in the kitchen, but once I abandoned my expectations and saw the experience from his point of view, cooking became a brilliant way of spending half an hour together.

So if you want to cook with your toddler, here are a few of my top tips:

• Give them some way to be on the same level as you. The best approach is to bring them up to your level using a toddler tower or step stool. Science baby can’t live without his! Otherwise, you could set up a cooking station on a surface on their level, but since you need to be down there, you’d better have good knees!
• Talk to them about what you’re doing. Seriously, you might feel like a bit of a nutcase, but narrate everything you’re doing, show them the ingredients and the measurements, involve them in every step.
• Be calm and clear about risks. Cooking often involves sharp things and hot things, both of which do need to be approached with caution if you’re a toddler. Preempt any handling of hots and sharps with a clear, concise, and level instruction. Give your kid a chance, but stay watchful and be ready to step in.
• Leave your stress at the kitchen door. One of the best pieces of parenting advice I have recieved is “if they’re not endangering themselves or anyone else, leave them be”. Obviously in the kitchen that might also extend to endangering your favourite mixing ball, but you get the idea. Handing a todder a wooden spoon is asking for mess, for muck-ups, and for do-overs. So, as far as possible try to go with the flow. There’s no better way for your little one to learn than experiencing the low-stakes consequences of their actions.

This recipe, along with all of the recipes I post on this blog, are intended for toddler-involvement or for prep by a busy, brain addled parent who’s running low on spare mental capacity. You’re not aiming for perfection or aesthetics, but an easy and enriching experience with something edible (and hopefully tasty!) at the end.

Got a Sweet Tooth?

These pancakes are made without any added sugar, and their sweetness comes entirely from the bananas. Since bananas become sweeter the more ripe they become, larger and older bananas will make for sweetened pancakes.

That being said, some little ones (and grown ups too!) have more of a sweet tooth, but fortunately this easy recipe can be modified in lots of different ways to add an extra touch of sweetness without skyrocketing the sugar content.

You could try:

• Adding more banana
• Mashing the banana less so there are bigger pieces
• Adding chocolate chips to the mix
• Adding raisins to the mix
• Serving with golden syrup or honey (if older than 1 year)
• Serving with jam or mashed fruit
• Serving with nutella

Or go off piste, do your own thing! Since these pancakes don’t start out all that sweet, you could even try adding some savor ingredients. Be sure to share your successes and failures in the comments!

So, without any further ado, here is the recipe. Remember you can click print so that you don’t end up getting sticky fingers all over your phone or tablet!

Toddler-Friendly Banana Pancakes

• Servings: 5-6
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 2 mins per pancake
• Difficulty: easy
• Rating: toddler-approved
• Print

Naturally sweetened banana pancakes that are perfect for making with your toddler

Like all of my recipes, these are designed to be a fun and enriching experience with the aim of making something edible at the end. We’re going for fun, not perfection, so leave your stress at the kitchen door!

Ingredients

• 1 x over-ripe banana
• 1 x large egg
• 125 ml/0.5 cups milk
• 175 g/0.75 cups self-raising flour
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• Butter or spray oil for frying

Directions

1. Peel and mash the banana into the bowl
2. Add the egg and the milk, and mix until well-combined
3. Add the flour and the baking powder and whisk to make a smooth, sticky batter
4. Heat a couple of sprays of oil or a small knob of butter in a frying pan over a medium heat
5. Add a generous spoon or ladleful of batter into the pan
6. Cook for around 1 minute until the bottom is firm, then use a spatula to flip over
7. Cook the other side for around 1 minute until whole pancake is firm
8. Serve, allow to cool for 1 minute, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Per Serving: 145 calories; 1.5 g fat; 5.6 g carbohydrates;
2 g protein; 33.5 mg cholesterol; 35 mg sodium.