Taste and See

“I have never been to a grown-up book club meeting that didn’t include food, and yet I so often make my kids’ book-reading sessions feel more like a classroom than a book club.”

-Sarah Mackenze in The Read-Aloud Family

I remember two things happening on a regular basis before going to bed as a child: 1) reading a story together with my dad and 2) eating one of his hand-mixed chocolate shakes. I honestly doubt that my parents ever sat down and said “hey, let’s have a bedtime routine that consists of books and ice cream,” and I’m sure those things didn’t actually happen every night, but they are still some of my most vivid memories from childhood. Anytime any of our five senses are involved, we tend to remember the experience more clearly, and the more senses we use, the more clear the memory. You’re probably already using the senses of touch (maybe you let your child turn the pages as you read or they draw or color as you read), smell (ahhh, every true book lover loves the smell of a book, new or old), sight (as you show them the pictures), and sound (as they hear you read). So let’s consider today how we can add the fifth sense, taste, to our reading experiences.

1. Snacks during read-alouds. This is definitely the easiest tip on this list, and if you take nothing else away from this, I highly encourage you to try this one. Not only will snacks provide the fifth sense for your children, but they will also help distract your children as you are reading aloud and help them pay better attention to the story. 

2. Make foods mentioned in the books you read. Make the Molasses on Snow candy from Little House in the Big Woods. Make Grinch cookies and read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Read Hansel and Gretel and build gingerbread houses. Read Too Many Pumpkins and see how many of Rebecca Estelle’s pumpkin treats you can make. This can be a fun activity in the middle of a longer book or something you do as a celebration after finishing the book.

3. Choose a signature food you always have during read aloud time. Muffins and Morning Time. Hot chocolate and read-alouds on the couch when they first wake up on a cold Winter morning. Popsicles and books on a blanket outside on a hot Summer day. A snack platter with lots of random foods you have around the house (if your kids are like my kids and think everything is cooler with a grown-up name, call it a charcuterie board). Don’t overthink this. My family’s favorite traditions are ones I didn’t plan for, ones where we did it once and one of them said “hey, let’s do this every time.” It doesn’t have to be fancy, complicated, or even something you make yourself. The repetition itself will make it special.

4. Have a special teatime. Go a step further and have a regular teatime. Many homeschoolers have a weekly Poetry Teatime, but you can also read seasonal picture books or a devotional or anything your family loves. Take your kids to a thrift store and let them each pick out their own tea cup, or buy a nice matching tea set. Make it fancy but simple with a pretty tablecloth, something yummy to eat, and a candle or fresh flowers from your garden. Great resources for this include Teatime Discipleship for Mothers and Daughters by Sally Clarkson and Poetry Teatime Companion by Julie Bogart.

5. Bonus tip: look for ways to tie food and drink to your own reading life, too! I almost always have a cup of coffee or tea with me while reading, and I’ve even been known to bribe myself with a cup of coffee during seasons that I’m not as excited about reading to my kids. Some moms take a late lunch during their little ones’ nap and read during it. If you’re struggling to make your personal reading happen, consider where you can tie it to food in your day.

Not only will food help us make warm, comforting memories of reading to our children, but it also helps us establish the habit of reading aloud. Our kids really do want connection with us more than anything else, and books and food are two of the best ways to make it happen.