Veronika had to work for her snack today! Kids seem to universally love that old magician’s trick of hiding an item under a cup and then making it “disappear”. This variation involves hiding a snack under a cup before shuffling cups around, but the point is for your toddler to find it at the end. Doing so actually helps hone your toddler’s visual tracking skills, and the bonus to this version is the yummy reward to eat!

Any small snack will work fine for the game; I used crackers, but raisins or pieces of cereal are other good options.

I first hid a cracker under one cup in a cluster of four, making sure she saw where it was, then said to Veronika, “Where’s your snack?”

I slowly shuffled the cups (you don’t want to make this too hard for a 2 year old), then took my hands away and repeated the question.

She was instantly a little ham and loved the theatrics involved in the game! “Is it under this cup?” she would ask, lifting up for a reveal.

She giggled when the cracker wasn’t there…

…and was consistently surprised and delighted when it was. Her surprise showed me that she still hasn’t learned to visually track the correct cup, but clearly today the game was about her enjoyment and theatrics. All in all, it turned snack time into an activity that fed both bellies and brains!