Early Intervention Speech Therapy

Recipe: Rainforest “Pizza”

This is our fourth and final rainforest recipe for this summer! It was been a fun four weeks, full of delicious and creative eats. The kids really loved all of the recipes, as did the parents! I have had several families share with me that they tried the recipes at home. Many enjoyed making them with their children and were pleasantly surprised by the delightful dishes!

For today's recipe, you will need 6 ingredients:

• Thin bagels (although you could also use English muffins - I usually buy whatever is on sale!)
• Plain cream cheese
• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Chocolate chips
• Shredded coconut

Pre-cut strawberries and bananas before presenting recipe to students. Also, place each of the four toppings into a separate bowl with a spoon for scooping.

Tools include:

• Knife
• Cutting board
• Small plastic knives
• 4 small bowls
• 4 spoons

Recipe steps and therapy tips:

Today's recipe focuses mainly on answering yes/no questions and putting 2-4 word sentences together using picture sentence strips.

Before beginning, demonstrate what you want the children to do! Show how to spread the cream cheese onto the bagel, add each of the four toppings and then take a bite!

1. For the "crust", give every child a half of a bagel thin.
2. For the "sauce", give everyone a scoop of cream cheese and a small plastic knife to spread the cream cheese onto their bagel.
3. Next, add on the 4 "pizza toppings." Use yes and no pictures to ask the children if they want each topping.
4. If they choose yes and want the topping, use a picture sentence strip that reads: "I-WANT-(topping)-PLEASE," to ask for each individual topping.
5. If they choose no and don't want the topping, then with their permission, put a small sample of the rejected topping on their plate (but not on their bagel) for them to see, touch, taste and smell. Many of the children will try some new foods during this recipe!

Recipe variations:

• For children with allergies or sensitivities to dairy foods, provide apple sauce as a replacement for the cream cheese. Jams and jellies could be some other options!
• I chose strawberries, bananas, chocolate and coconut because they taste good together, but feel free to use any "rainforest" foods you prefer or have available as your toppings!