When I started out on this what felt like agonizing food journey with Rose, I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy as just removing the processed stuff and saying ‘here is some kale – enjoy!’. If only!
If you follow us on Instagram it probably seems like my kids have the perfect diet. I wanted to just reassure you that they don’t! And there isn’t a ‘perfect diet’ anyway. We are all individual and have different nutritional needs. Foods that enable one child to flourish, might be really detrimental to another! So there is no use comparing! I have realized this over the years. It can make you feel crappy, and that you are not doing a good enough job. You are!
It has taken years, and lots of work for us to reach a lifestyle like we have with our kids. And I really do understand how hard it can seem and how energy zapping it can be contemplating serving up more food that won’t get eaten constantly!! It is soul destroying and inevitably you turn to loved foods – which might not be the most nutritious, but you know will get eaten every time!
I remember when Rose was at her worst, and we had had zero sleep. The last thing I’d want to do is try to negotiate a plate of food that I knew she hated! So mostly I would revert to foods that I knew would always get eaten. Like pasta. We ate. Alot. Of….. Pasta!! I have realised that I was just exacerbating the issue by reinforcing her food refusal with loved food each time. It is so easy to do!
When I finally realised how much of an impact that diet was potentially having on Rose, Especially white refined wheat pasta 5 nights per week. I knew it wasn’t going to be simple, as Rose at that point had formed lots of habits around eating that I knew we had to slowly break!
I have found that the more you push with children, the less inclined they are to want to cooperate. Rose feels like an amplified version of this!
Making food fun and modelling enjoyment is great, but if you go too far they might think you are up to something! They are clever!
And that is where the shining beacon of light – food play comes in.
Food play takes ALL the pressure off the child to consume the food, And allows them to tolerate and accept food via other senses to get comfortable with it first. This first stage can be really crucial for many kids. Especially those who might suffer with high anxiety and are largely resistant to change (such as some children on the spectrum).
I know it goes against every grain of your being and seems really annoying to let your kids throw a load of food around and make loads of mess. But from my experience this has truly been one of the biggest game changers for us in changing the mindset surrounding food. It sounds depressing and like hard work. But if you really want to improve and expand the diet, there isn’t a ‘quick fix’ unfortunately. It takes time, consistency and perseverance!
Furthermore there is actual research concluding that children that play with their food, are more inclined to try new foods! YAY!
Benefits of food play….
1. Develops good food habits. Researchers have found that children who play with their food are more likely to try new foods and eat a varied diet. This is thought to be due to the lack of anxiety and the wealth of freedom surrounding scenarios where food is present. Playing with food helps children to relax completely around food. The experience is positive. This paves the attitude for future food exposures. And they are much more likely to form healthier relationships with it.
2. Zero rules surrounding meal times helps foster creativity and enjoyment around food, rather than anxiety and perfectionism. To give an example my son Jack loves creating faces, or scenes with his dinner most nights. Most of the time the whole plate gets eaten, which is lovely and am grateful to be at this point with both my children. But sometimes he is at the table for a crazy length of time! In those moments I often have to pull myself back and stop myself telling him to get with eating or stop playing with it. I have to remind myself that whilst he is creating a dragon out of cabbage, he is totally relaxed and all of his senses are savouring that piece of now freezing cold cabbage. It sound cheesy but it is another outlet for his creativity. He loves craft and creating art, so it makes sense that food be a part of that too.
3. Allowing all of the senses to become familiar and comfortable with the food before tasting is involved. Eating is a multisensory experience – it actually involves every single one of the senses! Looking at the food, smelling the food, touching the food, listening to the food or the environment whilst eating the food. Think of the proprioceptive, vestibular and interoceptive senses too. Your picky may be an active child that seeks out input. They will probably have a difficult time sitting still at the table. If their sensory system is out of balance or dysregulated, then they can’t focus on eating. If a child has sensory issues – think of how overwhelming it would be to have to absorb all of that input, whilst sitting quietly at a table! Think about how hungry they might not feel dealing with the overwhelm! Appetite shuts down and battles start again. A vicious cycle! Food play enables complete control, in a relaxed setting whereby the child can learn to tolerate food via the other senses in an informal way where there are no expectations.
4. Helps children to feel in control. I often think about how overwhelming meal times must be for kids who might be anxious without us even realising it. Imagine each day being served foods that you didn’t like repeatedly and then being told you must eat them! It’s enough to give me anxiety just thinking about it!! By allowing children to play you are giving them complete control. Even the language we use daily exacerbates this battle of power. ‘You can have this if you eat this..’ Etc. It is so hard not to do. But even those words put pressure on the situation. Food play is different. The child has complete control of what they do with the food and there is ZERO pressure. When the pressure is off – guess what? Appetite is not supressed and children are more curious.
Food play is awesome and some children will willingly accept the feel, or smell of a new food as a first step. For those with severe sensory aversions though you may need to build up to this via using gloves to handle to the food. This is another way of reassuring your child, giving control and showing that you understand their needs. Ideally you will want to work up to them touching the food with their bare hands. But for children that might struggle with this idea – gloves can be effective.
You could start out with rubber gloves which are quite thick. Then move onto something thinner like a surgical glove, so more of the texture is experienced.
Another idea is using pretend food to begin with.
7 EASY TO SET UP AND FUN FOOD PLAY IDEAS THAT DON’T INVOLVE EATING!
1. Colour match rainbow food game
You will need;
Different colour pieces of A4 paper
Access to different fruits and veggies
What to do;
Lay out the different coloured paper and allow your child to explore the kitchen to find any foods that match the colours. You could use a stop watch to make it more fun! My kids love this game!
2. Drawing food!
ou will need;
Paper, scissors and colouring pen or pencils
Access to some different foods that are not already loved
What to do;
Cut the paper into a dinner plate. Lay out the food in the centre of the table. Ask them to create a dinner by drawing the items onto their plates. Lots of praise for the ‘artwork’. No enforcing what should be on there.
They can trace around them, colour them in. Touching is the goal, but even tolerating and enjoying looking at the colours is good!
3. Chopping food with fun cookie cutters, children’s knives, spiralisers or even Play Doh equipment
You can use Play Doh equipment here too. One of my friends uses Play Doh apparatus. I love this idea because it truly confirms to the child that there really is no pressure at all for them to eat. You can use the cut out food to match different shapes.
I bought the kids their own special knives to cut with. They give lots of independence in the kitchen because they are designed for children. My two use them all the time. They are brilliant because they are super safe but actually cut through raw veggies!
You can buy them HERE with a discount of 10% by using UNICORN10 at the checkout.
You will need;
A selection of cookie cutters and/or washed Play Doh accessories and knives
Access to different fruits and veggies
What to do;
Use the food as you would Play Doh. Ask them to look at the shapes and match them. Let them explore themselves without any mention of eating! Let every sense be touched by the food, smell, touch, sound – you could crunch it with a hammer, or squish it through a Play Doh machine!
4. Creating a food sensory bin!
You can use ANY food!
Here are some ideas:
- Rice
- Beans
- Chia Seeds
- Oats
- Dried Pasta
- Cooked Pasta
- Seeds
- Flour
- Water
- Ice
- Chickpeas
- Cranberries
- Popcorn (unpopped)
- Lentils
- Yogurt
- Quinoa
- Carrot Peelings
- Pumpkin seeds and inner flesh
- Sunflower Seeds
- Spices
- Frozen / Fresh Veggies
- Fresh Herbs
- Dried Fruit
- Baking Soda (add vinegar)
- Cereal
- Chia Seeds (soaked in water)
Here some ideas for how to use…
Frozen veggie cold icy sensory bin – use a tuft tray, or large container and fill with frozen veggies and other items such as jugs, fun items to collect with, props, and scoops. You could place favourite items in there and you could search and find them together!
Rice sensory bin – One of my daughter’s all time faves! Messy, but if you use a tuft tray you can kind of keep it together!
Herbs sensory bin – I emptied out my old dried herb collection with some rice flour – my daughter loved this. It was a great way to expose to different smells that she might not be used to
Dinosaur smelly swamp dinosaur bin
Oats and chickpea building site
5. Use different shaped fruit and veggies to paint with and use as fun stampers!
You will need:
A selection of fruits and veggies
A selection of different cooking cookie cutters
Paints – you can use edible too!
What to do;
Lay out the items or let the children pick their own! Allow them to explore the different cutters – you could create a certain loved shape from a carrot for example – say a heart. or Just let them freestyle with the foods. Broccoli and cauliflower are fabulous ‘paintbrushes’!. And mushrooms are brilliant foam stampers! You could also use spaghetti like this.
6. Make paint with different coloured fruit and veggies
You will need:
A selection of different fruit and veggies
A blender
What to do;
Blend fruit and veggies together until smooth. Use ratios with much more fruit at the start to make it more appealing for veg dodgers!
Give paint brushes or other foods to use as paintbrushes. Use wraps or other edible canvases such as a potato slice to paint on.
See here for how I made different colours.
Let them create some art for you!! And if they nibble a bit during – happy days!!
7. Give your fruit and veggies a bath!!
This is one of my daughter Rose’s favourite activities. Such a great way to get little ones touching produce in a no pressure setting! Especially great for those that love water play!
You will need;
A selection of produce, water and a large bowl or you could just use the sink!
What to do;
Tell them that these veggies are very dirty and they need to be cleaned! They need a bath!
Give them a brush or cloth, you could put a selection of bowls out for them to sort the produce after if they love sorting too (my daughter Rose does!)
Lay out a towel for them to air dry after.
I hope you have enjoyed these ideas! You can follow me on instagram @thehappyhealthyunicorn and/or join our mailing list where you will be alerted to new blog posts and recipes! Please share this with anyone who you feel would benefit from these tips 🙂
