Toddler Activities: Food Necklaces

By: Deborah Pace Rowley

Kids love to string cereal onto yarn to make fun edible necklaces, but yarn can be difficult for toddlers to manipulate. Yarn flops over and won't stay in the right position or it frays and ends up too thick which can be extremely frustrating. This fun activity uses thin licorice rope as the string that holds the brightly colored Fruit Loops. Now the whole necklace is edible!

Young toddlers may need Mom or Dad to hold the piece of licorice in place while they string on the cereal. Toddlers older than 2 can probably handle holding the licorice and stringing the cereal all on their own. This activity provides excellent fine motor skills practice. Tiff even tells the parents of her preschool students to have them string beads to work on motor skills and increase their ability to hold a pencil.

When your toddler has put 15 to 20 pieces of cereal on the licorice rope, tie each end of the rope to a piece of yarn and tie the yarn around your toddler's neck. Now your toddler can enjoy a portable snack as they run off to their next busy activity!