What’s the ONE THING picky eaters typically can’t resist?? FOOD PLAY!
Face food play for feeding therapy
Play is the thing kids do best!
Children naturally learn best through play, as it allows them to explore, experiment, and discover the world around them. Play fosters intellectual, emotional, and social development and encourages creativity and problem-solving skills as children imagine, invent, and work through challenges. Play often involves interaction with peers, teaching children important social skills like sharing, cooperation, and communication. Children learn that play is a safe space to express and regulate their emotions, leading to the development of greater coping and emotional regulation skills.
Why is playing with food important for picky eaters?
It reduces anxiety about foods by making the food less intimidating.
Food becomes associated with fun and playfulness. It shifts the perspective of wanting to avoid all challenging situations with food to wanting to be more adventurous and curious.
Food play builds self-help and fine-motor skills by using motivating tools and utensils.
It enhances sensory development and helps kids become more familiar with the sights, smells, textures, and tastes of new foods.
The adventure of food play goes beyond expanding palates and developing essential skills in picky eaters. It's about building connections, trust, and a sense of safety within the feeding relationship.
When mealtime becomes a joyful journey of curiosity and exploration, children not only overcome picky eating habits but also cultivate a lifelong love for food and a trusting bond with their caregivers. So, embrace the adventure, nurture curiosity, and savor the joy of food play in your child's journey toward healthy growth and development.
Food play doesn’t have to mean your kitchen will look like a tornado tore through it!
When you use a designated play area with easy-to-clean surfaces, you have more control of the mess and can relax and allow the creativity to flow.
In general, encouraging your picky eater to play with their food can be a beneficial strategy to help develop essential skills and explore using all their senses.
Prep for successful food play.
Being prepared ahead of time goes a long way in containing the mess and setting expectations for activities. These tips will save you time, energy, and make food play less stressful for everyone involved.
Consider the environment. You could set up a picnic blanket outside to control the mess and provide for easy cleanup, or you could use a craft table with a plastic tablecloth from the dollar store underneath. Focus on easy cleanup and choose a good space to lessen your anxiety about the mess involved.
Plan for food play at a different time than your typical mealtime. This will help your child to not feel pressured to eat and be more open and willing to explore. You will also feel less pressure to get food into their belly so you can relax and just let the fun evolve naturally.
Use foods during food play that you would like your child to eventually learn to eat. Anything goes!
Play along with your kids. The more you explore (without forcing) and are curious, the more your child will want to join in on the fun.
Take pictures or short video clips of the adventure to share with family members. Kids are often motivated to show others what they’re doing, and will lower their guard to do even more exploration.
Use unique and colorful containers to add an element of surprise and fun to your food play.
Check out our list of fun feeding tools that add to the food play experience.
Have a variety of different textures, colors, sizes, shapes, and flavors of foods available (unless that is too overwhelming for your child).
Focus on the process of the play, and not on achieving a goal of eating. Of course it’s great if your child tastes something, but that doesn’t have to be the goal of every food play opportunity. The main goal for food play is building in fun and internal motivation to explore foods while feeling safe and supported.
Model your own ways to have fun playing with food. Kids learn a lot through observation and when they see you having genuine fun, they’ll be more motivated to join in.
It’s completely fine if your child just wants to observe the food play initially. The less pressure to perform and the more you can assure them that this is just for fun and exploration and “we can eat later when we’re ready,” the more they’ll find that they are motivated to explore.
Food play isn’t wasting food. Children are learning valuable lessons about the sensory aspects of the food when they play with it. If food waste is a concern, see if you can wash and re-use some of the fruits and vegetables. You can also store the foods and bring them out again for another round of fun.
Follow these parent-friendly food play set-up tips to create a positive and enjoyable food exploration environment for your child while reducing mealtime stress and pressure. Remember that the focus is on play, curiosity, and learning about food at their own pace.
At That Makes Sense OT, we understand that there may be mixed emotions when attempting food play activities with your child.
Some emotions you might experience during food play could include:
Guilt about food waste, especially if there are financial or environmental concerns
Sorrow/grief that eating is not easy for your child
Discomfort with the mess and feeling out of control
Worry about establishing bad habits (we try to avoid this by setting clear environmental cues and boundaries during play versus during meals)
Struggle with cultural and social expectations, either your own or from others in your social/family circle
Relief that your child is able to find some enjoyment from food
Amusement and pleasure at seeing how creative your child is
Joy in finding a fun shared activity that centers around food
(Fill in the blank) -- It’s common to have mixed emotions about food play. Allow yourself to experience the emotions that come up.
It's important to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, and reactions to food play can vary widely. What's most important is that you find a balance that works for your family's values, cultural context, and your child's development and needs. Open communication and trust can help navigate food play in a way that aligns with your family's goals and values.
Food play aligns with our values at That Makes Sense OT. So much so, that it is proclaimed in our motto:
When we nourish, they flourish! Social connection is good for the soul, as food is for the body.
Ready to get started with food play but feeling less than creative?
We’ve created a STEAM-inspired food playmat activity idea for our friend and mompreneur, Candice Walsh, founder and CEO of nug + tater, a children’s toy company. Check out her product, the NugLug , a portable educational system and screen-free fun for kids ages 3+. The NugLug has many add-on activity ideas and now can be used as an all-in-one snack and food exploration activity, designed to stimulate curiosity, build fine-motor skills, and enhance sensory development.
You don’t have to have a NugLug to use the playmat, but with the versatility of the toy, it’s a great idea for gift-giving this holiday season.
Download the NugLug food playmat with accompanying food suggestions now.
