Messy play with food and fussy eaters

Messy play with food and fussy eaters

Despite what you were told as a kid, playing with your food is a GOOD thing! Kids learn about foods and move toward food acceptance by exploring foods with all of their senses. There are many benefits of playing with different food textures from as young as when solids are first introduced. It’s often called “messy play with food”.

 

 

What is messy play with food?

Some children are more sensitive to tastes and textures than others. These children are more aware of differences in the way that food looks, tastes and smells. They may also dislike getting their hands dirty and changes in routine.

 

Messy food play is about introducing different food smells, tastes and textures through play. The idea behind it is that by experiencing foods in a fun way a child will be more willing to try tasting and eating new foods. Food play is like arts and crafts, but with plates, sprinkles, and icing instead of paper, glue, and glitter.

 

 

Why is messy play with food important?

Kids learn about new foods through repeated exposure, food play, and sensory exploration (through looking, touching, smelling, and squishing). Food play offers an opportunity for kids to explore and learn about foods, without any pressure to “eat” or “try” the foods.  Over time they become more comfortable interacting with the foods and may eventually start eating them when they are ready. Messy mealtimes foster independence by providing opportunities for children to learn about self-feeding by touching food and bringing it toward their mouth.

 

It’s important not to pressure your child to eat/try the foods during sensory play…just model your own enjoyment of the foods and have fun learning about new foods through sight, smell, touch, and sound. The tasting part will come with time, practice, and patience.

 

 

When to start messy play with food?

As soon as solids are introduced! This is generally around 6 months of age and not before 4 months of age. Keep in mind that introduction of solids at this age is though of as opportunities to experience tastes and textures rather than just as sources of nutrition because these babies are still getting most of their nutrition from breast milk/formula.

 

So what order can we introduce foods? Other than the recommendation to include iron-rich foods among an infant’s first foods, there are no Australian recommendations stipulating the order in which other foods should be introduced or the number of foods that should be introduced at once.

 

Some things to consider are:

• Preventing allergies: Advice provided in the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy infant guidelines suggests that all children are exposed to egg and dairy, fish and nuts (not whole nuts, but ground nuts or nut paste) early in life (at around six months and preferably while breastfeeding) to reduce the risk of allergies and/or allergic reactions
• Provide a wide range of foods: New parents should aim to expose children to a variety of tastes, textures, colours and flavours to maximise their enjoyment of a wide range of nutritious foods. This encouragement should stop short of juices and sugar-sweetened drinks or high sugar or high-fat foods, which are not ideal for children.
• Managing food preferences: new research suggests that infants learn to enjoy non-sweet tasting vegetables as children if they are offered these as their first foods – try offering less sweet vegetables (beans, spinach, mushrooms, broccoli) before sweeter tasting vegetables (carrots, sweet potato, peas, or fruits)
• Providing a single food rather than a blended food: research suggests that offering individual foods separately rather than blended with a sweeter food may help infants enjoy a broad range of tastes and, in turn, learn to like these individual tastes

 

My child is older and isn’t eating a range of foods, what do I do?

The earlier we introduce a range of foods the more likely our kids are to eat a range of foods as they grow older. Some older children may be fussy eaters too. It is important to seek help from a mix of paediatric dietitians, psychologists, feeding clinics, gastroenterologists, and occupational, speech pathologists if your child:

• Fails to meet appropriate nutritional or energy requirements
• Follows a limited diet (e.g. in the treatment of allergies)
• Has a chronic disease (e.g. cystic fibrosis or diabetes)
• Has parents who demonstrate high levels of distress around food
• Has a sensory processing related problem that may be indicated by:
  • Inadequate eating
    • Repeated food refusal
    • Not swallowing food
    • Choking, retching or coughing
    • Eating only minimal amounts of food
    • Intensely limited range of food, including difficulty advancing to solids
    • Limited movement of food around the mouth as the infant develops
      • Difficult mealtimes
        • Mealtimes lasting longer that 30-45 minutes
        • Challenging behavior (screaming, throwing food)
        • The child becoming extremely distressed
          • Inadequate weight gain due to lack of nutrition

 

 

Tips/ideas for messy play with food

You want to incorporate some messy play into your child’s mealtimes but you are not sure where to start? Here are some of our favourite food play ideas:

• Finger painting with pudding/yogurt/whipped cream

• Use paint brushes to paint with pudding or purees (if your child is not ready to touch)
• Touch and squish wet foods through Ziploc bags
• Feed puppets and dinosaurs or any toys with a mouth
• Fruit salad/fruit kabobs (sing the Wiggles song: “Fruit Salad”)
• Potato Head with real foods
• Stack crackers, cookies, cubes of cheese, Jello then knock the tower over and laugh
• Match different shaped crackers/foods into categories (e.g., shape, colour, size)
• Sort different shaped foods in a shape-sorter toy
• Drive cars and diggers through cooked pasta/rice, canned fruit, or Jello
• Cook and bake and ask your child to help prepare for meals (your child is head chef for the day)
• Serve food to others (give your child “helping” jobs with food)
• Wrap foods in napkins and open them like presents…surprise!
• Make a noise with a food to draw attention to it (e.g., crunch, splat, pop, splash)
• Make mustaches with foods (e.g., peppers) or glasses (e.g., cucumbers)
• Flick and Roll foods across the table. Play table finger-hockey or soccer with foods
• Write names/letters in purees or sauces
• Pretend to be a kitty cat or puppy game = licking food from hands or fingers

 

Learn more about speech therapy for kids today!