Special Series: Cinco de Mayo

In honor of Cinco de Mayo this week, we are taking elements from our weekly book series and our monthly topic series and combining them together for this special series.

A lot of kids, and even adults, are unfamiliar with what Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates. This video could be a great starting place. There are also some good book options, such as Marco’s Cinco de Mayo, on epic!

Food is a huge part (though not the only part) of Cinco de Mayo and is likely something that kids have some familiarity with, so we think it’s an awesome way to not only explore Mexican culture, but practice speech, language, and feeding skills. Check out some of our recommendations below!

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

From the publisher:

Dragons love tacos. They love chicken tacos, beef tacos, great big tacos, and teeny tiny tacos. So if you want to lure a bunch of dragons to your party, you should definitely serve tacos. Buckets and buckets of tacos. Unfortunately, where there are tacos, there is also salsa. And if a dragon accidentally eats spicy salsa . . . oh, boy. You're in red-hot trouble.

Speech

Dragons Love Tacos is great for /t/ and /k/ (e.g., tacos) and /d/ and /g/ (e.g., dragons), especially because little ones tend to say /t/ in place of /k/ and /d/ in place of /g/ (it’s called fronting) as they are learning how to speak.

The book is also good for sounds that develop a little later on, such as /s/ (e.g., spicy, salsa), /z/ (e.g., dragons, tacos), and /l/ (e.g., love).

Language

Dragons Love Tacos is great for working on negation, which is the understanding of “not” in a sentence. The dragons do NOT like spicy salsa on their tacos and it should NOT be given to them.

The book is also good for working on cause and effect. The salsa jar isn’t labeled clearly, which causes spicy salsa to be put on the tacos at the party, which causes the dragons to eat the spicy salsa, which causes the dragons to breathe fire, which causes the house to burn down, which causes the dragons to have to rebuild it.

Feeding

Tacos are a great way to implement some favorite approaches of ours for families who are struggling to get kids to expand the foods they’ll eat. First, we recommend getting the kids involved with the meal prep. Examples for tacos could be making your own tortillas, putting spices/seasonings into the protein, cutting topping options (with kid-safe utensils), or even just putting the topping options into bowls. Second, we recommend putting all of the food that is available for a given meal out on the counter or on the table so that the kids can pick what they want/how much they want and make their own plate. The options are endless with tacos. Tacos are also excellent for providing exposure to a variety of textures, colors, temperatures, and flavors. Some options include:

• tortillas or shells (flour or corn)

• ground meat (e.g., beef, turkey, chicken, etc.), grilled meat (e.g., steak, chicken, etc.), shredded meat (e.g., chicken, carnitas, barbacoa, etc.), non-meat options (e.g., fish, shrimp, mushrooms, tofu, etc.)

• cheese (e.g., cheddar, Mexican blend, pepper jack, cotija, queso, etc.)

• lettuce, tomato, onions (raw, cooked, or pickled), bell peppers (raw or sautéed/grilled/roasted) or jalapeño peppers

• avocado/guacamole, sour cream, salsas (e.g., pico de gallo, salsa verde, spicy, mole, etc.)

• cilantro and lime

• rice (e.g., white rice, brown rice, Spanish rice, Mexican rice, etc.) and beans (e.g., black beans, refried beans, etc.)

Disclaimer:

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