🌈 Food Art 🌈
"Don't play with your food!" is a statement often heard at the dinner table; however, for picky eaters, this may be a step that they are on, to be expanding what they will eat.
No matter their age, allowing children to play with food provides them with the sensory experience of what the food looks, feels, and smells like. When they increase exploration of the food, it increases the chance that they will try the food.
With that said, kids don't HAVE to play with their food. Some children absolutely hate touching food with their hands, and that's OK ... as most food doesn't require us to touch it. If this is the case, we can have the child use a utensil to move the food around, versus their hands. Touching food with our hands isn't actually a requirement for eating the food.
Playing with food is much like other parts of the eating experience. What works for one child, isn't going to necessarily work for the next. So allow your child to play with foods that you are presenting, and see if it's an enjoyable experience, and if it fosters or hinders getting to that next step of taking a bite!
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