While the cute characters on the plates and bowls certainly worked to capture my child’s attention during mealtime, it counter-productive in other ways. My child spent most of his mealtime pushing food around his plate to play peek-a-boo with the rabbit character rather than putting food into his mouth! This could probably be reduced with some supervision and instruction but it’s a task I’d rather avoid.
On the bright side, the underside of both were lined with slip-proof silicon, which meant that all that pushing around of food ran no risk of the plate overturning and making a huge mess. It also meant my child was free to explore using both fork and spoon at the same time without having the plate move around the table as he tried to pick up food.
The anti-slip handles of the plastic utensils were just the right size for his hands, though some kiddos like mine may find each spoonful to be insufficient for their big mouths! Being generally shallow also meant that it was harder for children to pick up bigger chunks of solid food as compared to semi-solid foods such as cereal, so these are spoons that will definitely need to be replaced once the child is older.
The length of the utensils were perfect for self-feeding – posing virtually no threat of him injuring himself in the mouth or other parts of his face. The edges of the fork are rounded yet able to easily pick up pieces of meat easily. This is a definitely plus point as many of the safe forks around usually fail to pick up food effectively.
All in all, the range of Avent kitchenware for children is appealing for the little ones and accident-proof to set parents’ minds at ease to let their children explore into the world of self-feeding. However, small revisions such as making the size of the spoon slightly larger would make the whole Avent eating experience perfect!