We recently became obsessed with chopsticks - specifically, with kids' trainer chopsticks, and their adult equivalent, "cheater" chopsticks. There are a wide variety of brands and designs on the market, and we thought it would be interesting to figure out which ones work best for toddlers. So we began collecting, and soon amassed a formidable collection of designs to try out on our three-year-old, Z.
Now, in what is becoming a ZRecs tradition, our obsession can be your buyer's guide. We turned each of four companies' chopsticks on each other and rated them according to their ease of use for little hands, their adaptability for older children, and their toddler eye appeal. All plastic chopsticks included in this review are made of polypropylene (PP) plastic, except Chopstick Kids' chopsticks, which have melamine sticks and a silicone holder.
Hog Wild Farm/Zoo/Fish Sticks
Hog Wild Toys' multiple lines of animal-themed chopsticks are the toddler eye candy of this group, with bold colors, cut-out animal shapes and line-drawn details. They are easy to use and are flat and ridged on the inside track of each chopstick to make grabbing a cinch. The natural open width of these chopsticks (2 cm) feels much narrower due to the thickness of the chopsticks, and the springiness is quite firm, so they can only pick up very small pieces of food; also, due to the overall weight of the chopsticks, using them takes a bit more muscle than appropriate for toddlers. Overall, the price is right and these are fun for kids. Recommended for ages 4 to 8. [Hog Wild|Amazon]
Combi Chopsticks
Combi's chopsticks have a unique design feature - a molded plastic appendage that is meant to rest in a toddler's palm and help them hold the chopsticks properly, which can be set for right- or left-handed users. The piece can be removed when toddlers are comfortable holding the chopsticks, and the hinge can be taken off completely so the chopsticks can be used as "real" ones, although by that point children might be more comfortable with longer chopsticks, as these are under 15 cm long.
Ironically, the slightly increased initial difficulty of using Combi's chopstick design may make it a better trainer for chopstick use, and that is clearly Combi's intention; this makes them stand out from competitors, and we will continue to work with Z to help her learn to use them. They are designed to ensure that children grip them properly, and we suspect the low springiness might also help train children to use real chopsticks, but these features also mean that for very young children they are more difficult to use than other trainers. We recommend them for ages 4 to 6, and believe that for their innovative design, they are a shockingly good value. [Combi|Amazon]
Chopstick Kids 
Chopstick Kids chopsticks have a lot going for them: their cute, soft plastic "kid" tops that function as a one-piece hinge based solely on the plastic's flexibility, the fact that the chopsticks can be pulled out and used independently or even replaced by other standard-sized chopsticks. But the open stance is an absurdly wide 8 cm, which means that little hands must hold them very high up on the sticks, the opposite of what they need to do to master them. To make matters worse, the provided chopsticks are very thin at the tips, perfectly rounded, and completely smooth, with no ridges or grip whatsoever. This design flaw makes these chopsticks the most difficult to use of all the models we tested, for Z as well as for adults. Replacing the sticks with wooden ones adds some grip and improves the leverage, but we can't in good conscience give a higher ease of use rating for a product that requires such a flagrant hack to get results. Not replacing them will only lead to frustration, feelings of inadequacy and, if widely adopted, World War III. [Amazon]
Party People
Fred's Party People were the dark horse in this showdown. The design is intended for adults but the rounded human form instantly appealed to our three-year-old, and she liked the pastel color options. The chopsticks are flat on the inside and gently ridged, and the moderate springiness makes them very easy for Z to use. Older children or even adults can also use these without feeling silly. We highly recommend them for ages 3 and up. [Amazon]
DIY Trainer Chopsticks
I couldn't resist giving it a shot, and I have to say, these homemade chopsticks work pretty well. Wood has a natural low-level grip, both on food and on the hands using them, and the springiness (high, but yielding) and stance width (3 cm) achieved with the upside-down clothespin was perfect. The chopsticks can also be easily removed from the clothespin for washing or replacement, and you could also easily cut the sticks shorter to make them the perfect length for your child. These chopsticks have some intrinsic interest for curious toddlers, but that could be seriously enhanced by letting the kiddo paint the clothespin with a nontoxic paint before adding the chopsticks. If you're cheap, desperate, or stubborn, these just might do the trick, and they take 5-10 minutes to make.
We have four "pairs" of Fred chopsticks, one blue Chopstick Kid, and "pair" of red starfish Hog Wild Fish Sticks to give away to ZRecs RSS subscribers! We've added a question to our RSS "footer" (the last line of the post feed) which you should see directly below the next paragraph in your RSS reader. Email your answer to the question to zrecommends (at) gmail (dot) com by Friday at midnight for your chance to win one of these pairs of trainer chopsticks for the child in your life!
Special thanks go to Hog Wild for donating their chopsticks for review and for the giveaway.
Friday, August 10, 2007
ZRecs Showdown: Kids' Chopsticks
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Don't forget that you can get free "cheaters" from most Japanese restaurants. You can (sorta) see my 2-year-old using hers in this really bad video I shot with my phone a few months ago.
http://mind-flush.blogspot.com/2007/07/wow-video-feature-on-my-phone-really.html
She uses the wrong end of the sticks, but she can manage to shovel that finely shredded cabbage into her mouth, so I guess they work (even in an unintended way).
Okay, I found a source for the cheapo ones we get at the restaurant (other than just going to the restaurant, of course!)
http://www.buy4asianlife.com/eshop/ids_cate_step2.asp/id/AN0561_CHOPHELPER
I like that you can move the sticks up and down in the plastic grip to make them shorter or longer. And that they're cheap enough that I won't get upset when my daughter loses them :)
Thanks so much for this! My mother is half-Vietnamese and so I always wanted to master chopsticks but have only recently found my way. ;) I've seen great kids' chopsticks that my Asian friends have, but that they get from "home" (overseas, of course). I've seen the hacks and the restaurant freebies, too, and they haven't worked for us. I'll be looking to getting your highest scorers soon, and hope that they remain in my utensil drawer instead of becoming toys. :P
We tried #3 - Chopstick Kid's by Fred today at lunch. Ok, so lunch was macaroni and cheese, but it seemed a fine opportunity for a chopstick lesson for our 3 year old. Super cute, she loved the look of it. She managed to get a few noodles. I found them difficult to use as an adult. They are slippery. We will try them again, but are on the lookout for an easier pair!
We were at Blue C Sushi the other month and found that the disposable kids chopsticks made eating long noodles possible for G. Before this, he struggled with a fork - but the chopsticks seemed like the natural tool for this kind of food in his hands.
I love your inclusion of the homemade chopsticks in your review lineup. Even if they turned out not to work as well. It's just so interesting to see the DIY version evaluated alongside the bought versions - not something you get in consumer reports.
Joshua M
we have the combi chopsticks, and we're just about ready to crack them out. i'm pretty excited about it.
surprisingly enough, so many asian people that i've seen (both here and in asia) use their chopsticks incorrectly. my brother and i both did - i finally taught myself the correct way to use them when i was in my teens, and my brother still does it the hard way. it's surprising that he gets any food in our household, considering how quickly everyone else eats!
We love the Party People chopsticks. Great for kids and adults who aren't confident with chopsticks.
A friend of mine who teaches in S. Korea brought us back some awesome kid's chopsticks that it is impossible to use wrong. Don't know how easy it would be to get some in North America, but here they are: http://www.b-cause.info/01baby/07ohashi/index.html
My 4-year-old son has a red Chopstick Kids boy we call Fred (the company name). He loves the idea of Fred but he ends up using two hands. The chopsticks fall out of the boys legs very easily. I'm looking forward to having him try the Party People chopsticks.
All the measurements in this piece are labeled millimeters (mm), but I suspect are actually centimeters (cm). Unless the Combis really are less than an inch long, and a third of an inch counts as a "wide" opening!
What are you talking about, Glenn McDonald? Clearly they are all referenced in centimeters!
Just kidding. You're the first of our eagle-eyed readers to notice this. Thanks for the correction, and I've fixed it in the post.
We have been using the Combi one since DD was a little more than a year old. At 2 years old, she can actually use children or adult chopsticks occasionally but too lazy! She still prefers the Combi one. Thanks for the info/comparison. I couldn't find another pair of those Combi chopsticks for the longest time and today I finally decided to do a search on chopsticks for toddlers!
Just wanted to mention, coming from a Chinese household - everyone learns to use chopsticks before forks in my family. Once the learning curve is overcome, they're much easier and way more versatile in the long run.
I was once in a chinese restaurant with my infant daughter who isn't even ready for chopsticks yet... the manager there showed me an even cheaper way of building a pair of training chopsticks using only the materials provided and a rubber band. Disposable chopsticks usually come in a paper wrapper. You fold the paper wrapper up into a small rectangle the same width as the chopsticks - this becomes a spacer to hold the sticks apart. You then wrap the rubber band around the sticks and spacer, to hold it in place.
Post a Comment