An Easy Way To Prevent Spills When Toddlers Are Snacking

If you have a child, you clean up messes. There’s no way to avoid it.

You may think that your kids are the biggest mess-makers out there, but it turns out that there is plenty of competition available.

No child is clean, and no toddler cleans up after themselves. This is why spill-prevention is so important when raising a toddler.

You’ll never stop kids from making messes altogether, but you can help them to reduce the amount and frequency of certain spills and stains they create. Any reduction to the amount of work you have to do to keep your house and child clean can be a real benefit, so even small changes can make a big difference. You’ll always have floors to vacuum and dishes to wash, so why not eliminate spilled food, or dumped snacks from your to-do list?

It may sound like an impossible task when you say it out loud, but with the right stuff on hand, you can easily stop your kids from spilling snacks on furniture and flooring. Don’t avoid feeding them when they’re hungry, and don’t stress yourself out trying to keep them in one location. Let them play and explore, and keep them fed, but stop worrying so much about the mess they’ll leave behind.

There are many options out there when looking for toddler snack bowls and other options to prevent spills, and each one will offer some differences and advantages when compared to others.

Top 4 Ways To Prevent Spills While Your Child Eats

No method will be perfect, but there are many ways that you can attempt to eliminate or reduce messes while your child eats. When deciding on a technique, you’ll want to weigh the benefits against the effort required to implement it. In most cases you’ll know that your only slowing down the spills, or making them smaller, so keep your expectations realistic when choosing a method to prevent spills.

1. Fixed Bowls and Dishes

You can help to prevent movement by serving food in dishes that stick in place. Kids won’t be able to tip them over as easily, and they won’t be able to lift them up to tip them over. They’ll have to stay in one place to eat their food, but when compared to regular plates and bowls, ones with suction bases do result in less spilled food.

Plates and bowls that suction in place do help to stop messes, but they aren’t portable, and if kids try hard enough, they can release the suction, and spill the contents. In other situations, you may have a weak suction cup that doesn’t stick, and this may result in a tossed bowl, or a sliding plate.

Although suction base dishes do help to prevent spills in some cases, you may still have a pretty big mess to clean when your child is done eating.

2. Containers With Tops and Lids

If you use a snack bowl with a lid, you can be pretty sure that food will stay inside. You can find special toddler bowls with lids that allow access, and these can be effective at preventing spills. When a child reaches in, the lid will open slightly to allow their hand in, but it should also help to prevent unwanted snack food from exiting.

Snack containers with lids do help to keep the snacks inside, but many children have trouble retrieving stuff you place inside the container. When lid openings are too tight, or too small, it can frustrate children, and they may give up trying. In other cases, some toddlers may just rip off the lid completely, and then all prevention measures are eliminated. The toddler will have better access to the snacks, but they can easily spill out if they’re not careful.

Dishes like this are often preferred to those with suction cups because they offer a similar level of mess prevention, but they are much more portable and versatile in comparison.

3. Highchairs and Other Methods of Confinement

When you make them eat in a certain spot, or keep them in a highchair it doesn’t really reduce the mess, but it does keep it in one place, and make it easier to clean up. The main downside is that it requires more effort on your part, and it eliminates any possibility of your child playing while they eat, or snaking while they toddle around the house.

Most kids will eat in a highchair without giving you grief, but some just have too much energy to be pinned down. For these free-roaming toddlers, the confinement method of mess-prevention is not a good option.

If you do keep them in a chair, or at a certain table, you can lay down a mat underneath, or use a place-mat at the table to collect the food they spill. A plastic mat is way easier to clean than your flooring or furniture, so this step will save tons of time and effort when it’s time to clean the mess.

4. Intense Supervision

You know that if you help them eat, or watch their every move, you can easily cut down on the stuff they drop, or the food they spill. If you only have one child, or if you’re incredibly dedicated you can give the time and energy required to be a vigilant observer, but for most folks this method is too much work, and mostly impractical. Plus, for growing children, you do want to teach them independence and responsibility over time. If you do all of the work for them, they won’t be able to grow and learn.

This technique will work perfect in the short term, but you’ll eventually have to let them eat on their own. Being present does allow you to react quickly if they start to spill or drop something, but if you spend too much time feeding your child in order to prevent spills, you may end up regretting it in the future.

Other Ways To Help Prevent Spills

Preventing spills when toddlers are snacking can help keep your home clean and minimize messes. Here are some tips to help reduce the likelihood of spills:

Offer appropriate portion sizes: Give your toddler small portions of snacks at a time. Overfilling their plate or bowl increases the chances of spills when they reach for the snacks.
Encourage sitting at the table: Encourage your toddler to sit at a table or designated snack area while eating. Avoid allowing them to roam around with snacks in hand, as this increases the likelihood of spills.
Provide easy-to-handle snacks: Choose snacks that are easy for toddlers to handle, such as bite-sized fruits, cut vegetables, or snacks that can be eaten with minimal mess.
Demonstrate proper handling: Show your toddler how to handle snacks carefully and politely. Demonstrate how to carry a cup or bowl with both hands to minimize spills.
Use place-mats or tray tables: Place a place mat or a tray table under your toddler’s snacks to catch any spills and make cleaning up easier.
Keep spills contained: If your toddler is snacking in an area where spills are more challenging to clean (e.g., carpeted areas), consider using a splash mat or an old sheet under their snack area.
Teach cleanup routines: Encourage your toddler to be part of the cleanup process if a spill does occur. Make it a fun activity to clean up together using a child-friendly cloth or sponge.
Be patient and understanding: Spills are a natural part of toddlerhood, and accidents happen. Be patient with your child and avoid overreacting when a spill occurs.

By implementing these strategies, you can create a more spill-resistant snacking environment for your toddler and make snack time a more enjoyable and mess-free experience for everyone involved.

An Easy Way To Prevent Spills While Toddlers Snack

If you want a better option than the ones listed above, then check out our Spill-Proof Toddler Snack Bowl. It doesn’t restrict access, and it doesn’t require kids to stay in one place, so children love it. When you start using it, your children will be able to snack-on-the-go without worry, and you won’t have to chase after them to prevent crackers and other snacks from dropping on the floor, or getting hidden under couch cushions.

The unique design will do all the work for you, and help to keep any snack safely inside the bowl as children move about and play. You’ll be able to let them eat without supervision, but you won’t have to keep them strapped down to do it. Stop wasting money on expensive alternatives that don’t work any better, and eliminate the frustration you feel whenever your child wants a snack.

There does NOT have to be a mess left behind. Continue reading to discover how one simple snack bowl can improve your life, and help you be a happier parent.

What Is It?

Take a look at the picture above. Our toddler snack bowl looks very similar to other bowls available at stores, but there is one main difference. No matter how you hold it, or where you set it down, the center bowl will always remain upright.

Kids can easily access the stuff inside the bowl, but it won’t slide out or spill on the ground either on purpose, or by accident. As the outer part of the bowl moves or tips, the actual bowl that holds the food does not, so the whole thing can swing, drop move or tip without spilling.

How It Works

Kinda like a gyroscope, the design features a center bowl suspended inside a rotating ring. The large ring on the outside makes the perfect handle, and allows kids to grab it on any side, or hold it at any angle. At the center of the ring is a perfectly sized bowl for holding food. When the outer ring tips or moves, the center portion adapts and compensates to keep the snack level, and prevent anything from spilling out of the bowl.

The picture above shows the bowl loaded with snacks, and sitting on a level surface. As you can see, it holds plenty of food for a small child, and the large handle makes it easy to hold. The bowl above is in the default color choice, but we do have several colors to choose from, so you can get one with a look that appeals to any child.

As you can see, when the ring tilts down at a forty five degree angle, the bowl remains level, and the food inside remains undisturbed. This is the same tipping that occurs with accidental drops and bumps, but also when kids try to intentionally dump stuff out. With this bowl, if it’s knocked accidentally, or dropped on purpose, the gyro bowl will remain level to help prevent anything from spilling out in the process.

The bowl can tip back and forth repeatedly, and you’ll get the same result. The simple, fluid motion keeps the bowl level, no matter what. Your child can run and jump while holding it, or they can relax on the couch to watch a movie, or set themselves up on the floor to read a book, and you’ll never have to worry about crackers, fruit or other foods spilling out of the bowl.

They can pick the bowl up with one hand or two, and they can hold it flat, upright, or even upside-down, and they center container will flawlessly rotate to keep the snacks safe. No special care is required, and no instruction needs to be given. Just let your child interact with this bowl naturally, and they will automatically make less messes while eating.

In the picture above, you can really see this bowl in action, and understand how it operates. The large handle supports the rotating bowl, but the bowl itself is actually two parts. A rotating ring surrounds the bowl, and the bowl actually pivots inside this rotating ring to remain level at all times.

Your child can try to dump the snack bowl out without being successful, so accidents are easily prevented. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow it moves, or which direction it tips. You can fill this snack bowl to the top, and then allow your child to eat from it unsupervised, but there will be no major mess to clean up afterward.

The foolproof action requires no effort on the part of the child, and it’s always on and working. From a little nudge to a big drop or toss, this bowl can handle all the action your toddler can throw at it.

Don’t keep your child confined to one location, and don’t make them eat all their food in one sitting. Let them be independent, and allow them to snack at their leisure. This bowl can be picked up and dropped off all over your home, and you won’t need to worry about following the trail to clean any crackers left behind. It’ll help you spend less time feeding your children, and it’ll help to reduce the amount of food you have to clean, or pick up after they finish.

Kids need to eat, and it turns out that you get in trouble if you don’t feed them, so why not make it easy? Skip the struggle involved in wiping up spills, or picking up bits of food when you let them eat from our Spill-Proof Snack Bowl instead of other options. They will still feel like a big kid because they’re feeding themselves, but you won’t have to get frustrated when they make little kid style messes. Other options may not be as portable or easy for kids to use, but or snack bowl is different. It’s one of the easiest ways to prevent spills when toddlers and other messy people are snacking.

Ways To Clean The Mess

No matter which prevention option you choose, your child will find a way to make a mess anyway. Our snack bowl offers one of the best ways to prevent the mess, but no method will work 100% of the time. Sooner or later, despite your best efforts, your toddler will eventually spill some food that you’ll have to clean up. Once you implement a strategy to prevent messes, cleaning will be a less frequent task, and with the right approach, it can be easily managed. Here are some effective ways to clean up toddler food spills:

Act quickly: The sooner you address the spill, the easier it is to clean up. Don’t let the food sit for too long, as it can become more challenging to remove once it dries or gets ground into surfaces.
Remove excess food: Gently pick up or scrape off any excess food from the spill using a spoon, paper towel, or a wet cloth. Be careful not to spread the spill further.
Blot or dab: For liquid spills, use a paper towel or a clean cloth to blot or dab the area. Avoid rubbing the spill, as it may push the liquid deeper into fabrics or surfaces.
Use a damp cloth: Dampen a cloth with water and mild dish soap. Wipe the spill area gently to remove any remaining food particles and stains. Rinse and wring the cloth frequently to prevent spreading the mess.
Try vinegar solution: For tougher stains or odors, you can use a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and water. Dampen a cloth with the solution and gently blot the spill.
Baking soda paste: For dried-on or stubborn spills, make a paste of baking soda and water. Apply the paste to the spill and let it sit for a few minutes before gently scrubbing with a soft cloth or sponge.
Use enzyme cleaners: For particularly tough spills, especially on carpets or upholstery, consider using enzyme-based cleaners specifically designed to break down organic stains.
Washable floor mats or splash mats: If you have a designated eating area for your toddler, place a washable floor mat or splash mat underneath the high chair or table to catch spills and protect the floor.
Launder or clean fabric items promptly: If clothing, bibs, or cloth placemats are soiled, wash them as soon as possible to prevent stains from setting in.
Involve your toddler: Depending on their age, involve your toddler in the cleanup process. Give them a damp cloth or sponge to “help” clean up the spill.

When cleaning up after toddler food spills, remember to use child-safe and non-toxic cleaning solutions, and always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning specific surfaces or fabrics. You won’t be able to prevent every spill, so being prepared for spills and addressing them promptly can make the cleaning process more manageable and keep your home tidy during the toddler stage.