Raising a foodie

I love food.  It's my hobby, it's my interest, it's my passion.  I love shopping for food, I love cooking food, I love looking at food and reading about food.  One of the things I look forward to most as my daughter grows is cooking with her and sharing my love of food.  I am taking steps now to mold her into a food-lover.  We'll see if it works. 

Elliott had her first sushi this weekend-don't freak out-it was only an avocado roll.  She liked it though--but of course she loves avocado and rice, so, it was no surprise to me.  Elliott has never refused any food I have put in front of her, but her favorite, hands-down, is any sort of fruit.

In keeping with sharing my love of food with my little one, I created a "foodie book" out of an unused small photo album I was given that was gathering dust.  (I have seen similar small albums at the dollar store.)

Here's what you need:


a few old food magazines

small fabric-covered photo album

water-soluble pen

fabric paint

scissors

one 4x6 piece of card stock or photo (for tracing)

Mark your desired title on the front of your photo album with your water-soluble marker (you can use any kind of marker or do it free-hand but the water-soluble craft marker is great if you make mistakes like someone I know, *cough cough*).  I chose "bon appetit" as my title since it's a great phrase and the name of my favorite food magazine.

Go over your marked title in fabric paint and let dry according to instructions on the bottle.

In the meantime, use your 4x6 piece of card stock or photo as a guide to trace and cut out uniform sized pieces of your magazine.  I tried to choose photos where I would only have food pictures--no words.  Choose colorful and visually stimulating pictures.  Slide those clippings into your photo album and voila--a book is born!

Here's what the pages look like:

This is a quick, simple and cheap craft that your child will really enjoy--and you can customize it to suit your/their interests.  If your interest is cars, make one about cars--indoctrinate your children with what you like as much as you can before they start thinking for themselves...  and yes, I know how wrong that sounds--but we have a short window of time, so let's embrace it! ; )