It’s finally spring! If we had a garden and weren’t moving into a new house, we’d be pulling up fresh carrots right about now. Since we can’t grow our own, we’ll settle for carrots from the farmer’s market and from the grocery store, and they’ll still be delicious.
My kids love carrots- they’re bright and colorful, naturally sweet and great for dipping. We typically buy baby carrots or I cut whole carrots into sticks, but I’ve recently discovered two new ways to cut carrots that are perfect for little toddler mouths. I’m sure you could cut them yourself, but this lazy mama buys them pre-packaged from the grocery store. We’re lucky that our local HEB store carries all of these varieties in the organic section.
I’m sure there are some people who avoid raw carrots until their children are much older, but since we did baby led weaning and fed whole foods right from the start, my kids are accustomed to chewing hard foods and taking smaller bites of a larger food. Both of my kids have eaten raw carrots since they were seven or eight months old and before they had any teeth.
Carrots are still one of those foods that can be a challenge for littles ones. The type of cut makes a huge difference in whether kids will be able to bite through it and to prevent choking.
4 Kid-Friendly Ways to Eat Raw Carrots
1. Baby Carrots
I’m pretty sure everyone has tried these, but they’re a staple around here. I prefer the petite cut baby carrots because I can find lots of tiny ones for my toddler to eat. The baby cut carrots that are cut from larger carrots are often much too thick for little teeth to get through.
2. Carrot Sticks
I usually cut these myself and they’re great for dipping into messy dips like homemade ranch.
3. Shredded Carrots
I love having shredded carrots on to eat as a snack or use as an easy way to add more veggies to our meals. They’re perfect to toss on top of a salad or other steamed broccoli or add into a stir fry.
4. Crinkle Cut Carrots
This is our new favorite way to eat raw carrots! I’m not sure why I never thought about these before but they are the perfect way for kids to eat carrots! They are small enough for little hands to grasp, big enough to be a one-bite food, thin enough for little teeth to crunch through and have the best texture to hold onto dips.
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