Growing a Good Eater Series: Day 3: Playing with Your Food

This comes as a relief to any child; playing with your food is a good thing.

Yes, parents, believe it or not, especially with fussy eaters, this is true.

Think of how young children learn - they handle the object, investigate it, see what it can do...they play with it.  And food is no different.

This is very much a principle of S.O.S. Feeding Therapy.  Some kids will not even allow certain foods to be near them, they are so offended by them (my oldest despises even the smell of yogurt and will not sit near my youngest when he eats it).  So the first step is simply to convey the idea that these foods are good things.  And who wouldn't want to interact with a carrot that turned into a spaceship?  Or pasta you can paint? Or silly face sandwiches?  Or the classic ants on a log?

Here are some ideas on how you can help your kids play with their food...

Pretend Play
It's not a carrot, it's a spaceship.  Count down and watch it blast off.
It's not broccoli, it's trees.  Build a little scene with some peanut butter mounds as hills.
They're not raisins on peanut butter celery, they're ants on a log.
There are a TON of ideas on Pinterest for this and some get really in depth.  Even simple ideas can help create a fun eating atmosphere, though.
It's all about the presentation.

A great book to read with your kids along with this step: I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato.

Dip It
The ranch is worth it if it gets them to eat veggies.  Here is our favorite recipe for ranch.
Ketchup is another kid favorite.
You can squirt a teaspoon of different sauces into an ice cube tray and let them experiment to figure out what they like.
And don't corner them into conventional pairings; I have one who dips grilled chicken in ketchup and one who eats lettuce plain.  Whatever works for them, works.

Food Art - Make it
Our favorite way to play with our food is to paint our pasta.  I make noodles and we pass around a dish of spaghetti sauce with a BBQ brush.  Yes, even the adults prepare their dinner this way.  I will get more into the importance of that on my final post in the series on Friday.

The boys paint the pasta with spaghetti sauce and then use parmesean cheese to make it "snow."  This is also our strongest testimony.  The first time we did this, my oldest complained simply of the smell of spaghetti sauce heating.  But he did actually sit with us although he did not interact with the food.  The second time, he did not complain about the smell and came and sat with us and actually brushed sauce on his pasta and made the cheese "snow." By the third time, he was excited about doing it and ate the whole bowl!

Pictures soon to come :).

The bottom line is the more they interact with the food, the better.

How can you encourage your child to play with their food today?

This post is part of a series.  To catch up, read:
Growing a Good Eater Series: Day 2: Rainbow Eating
Growing a Good Eater Series: Day 1: Kids in the Kitchen