Sippy Cups

[DBug]

I do what twinmama and misol do -- Ikea all the way I also use the Nuby sippy cups from Walmart because they come in all the same colours as the Ikea dishes, cutlery and cups. The kids each have their own colour, and they know where to sit at the table by where their colour is. I love it -- and I only use one cup per kid per day, which is very nice.

[MarinaVanessa]

I color code all sippy cups and dishes/utensils. I use Ikea dishes/utensils and then got straw sippy cups from Wamart and each child has their own color for all their dishes/utensils and cups.

Yup me too. Saves me a lot of time and hassle. Their dishes/utensilsmatch the color on their cubbies. Each cubby has a picture of the child so they don't get mixed up and even the young ones can learn and remember what color they are.

I give them dishes/utencils that I bought from Ikea too for meals and snacks but I also have drinking cups that I bought from Walmart which are more like a sippy cup except they have flip-up top and straw inside that they drink from filled with water. In my DC the littles always water available to them and we keep these cups lined up at the edge of the table. They know they can have some when they want but they can't walk around with them so they put them back on the table when their done drinking.

[Crystal]

I'm wondering, those of you that do color coded cups....do they just have that cup all day, or is it at mealtimes only? I have always wondered why color coding would be any easier, as I only give a cup at meal/snack time at the table, and in between for water while I stand with them at the sink until they are done....so they just get whatever cup comes out of the cupboard....

[Daycare Mommy]

I'm wondering, those of you that do color coded cups....do they just have that cup all day, or is it at mealtimes only? I have always wondered why color coding would be any easier, as I only give a cup at meal/snack time at the table, and in between for water while I stand with them at the sink until they are done....so they just get whatever cup comes out of the cupboard....

Mine each have their own cup that they use all day. Each one is a different color/design, so they don't have to decipher any writing or anything. I found that sometimes if they were really thirsty, tired, or distracted (especially the younger ones) they would not bother checking which cup was theirs until I started the color coding. I learned that fast btw! We keep them all on a shelf in the refridgerator. They get their cup from the fridge whenever they need a drink and I pull them from the fridge when setting the table for meals. I taught them to close the fridge while drinking so they don't stand there with the door open or anything. And since it's out of sight it's generally out of mind unless they are genuinely thirsty, so I don't have the fridge door opening and closing every 5 minutes either.

[TGT09]

I do what twinmama and misol do -- Ikea all the way I also use the Nuby sippy cups from Walmart because they come in all the same colours as the Ikea dishes, cutlery and cups. The kids each have their own colour, and they know where to sit at the table by where their colour is. I love it -- and I only use one cup per kid per day, which is very nice.

All right all you Ikea fans, your twisting my arm to go check out these colorful dishes! Haha! :-) I need some new ones and I too use the Nuby cups.

[DBug]

I'm wondering, those of you that do color coded cups....do they just have that cup all day, or is it at mealtimes only? I have always wondered why color coding would be any easier, as I only give a cup at meal/snack time at the table, and in between for water while I stand with them at the sink until they are done....so they just get whatever cup comes out of the cupboard....

Yep, all day for me. Before the colour-coding, I was washing 20-30 cups every day, because the kids would forget which was theirs and I didn't want them spreading germs by accident. My whole motivation was to cut down on dishes. Right now they're only really drinking at snacks & mealtimes, but as the weather gets warmer, the cups will have water all day (and milk at breakfast & lunch). I do rinse them under hot water when they get all sticky from food-covered fingers, but I only wash them once a day.