A mortar & pestle can be a cool tool for your toddler or preschooler!

Since my son loves sugar so much, I had this great idea.

I bought a box of sugar cubes and I took out my white mortar & pestle thingy.

I put a pile of cubes in a small dish. I took the sugarbowl off the counter and placed it next to the cubes. I showed my two year old how to take them, one at a time, and put them in the mortar & pestle.

SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!

Then, he'd fill the sugar bowl with the sugar he smashed. I was right there to help (of course he snuck some granules :) but it was a really fun, easy, cheap and self-fulfilling activity.

Other ideas for smashing in the pestle and mortar are: soft foods (ie: guacamole helper!), smelly foods (ie: cinammon sticks- what happens when you smash it up?), frozen ice cubes, cereals, basil (pesto anyone?), beans, peas, garlic (super smelly), coffee beans...anything else?

Supervise little ones with anything small but seriously, they love to smash things up:).