Our Sunday Fun-Day posts feature fun, easy, food-related activities for you and your family to enjoy. These include ways to explore new food textures or flavors outside of the pressure of a "mealtime". We hope that this "food-play" will allow a new opportunity for your little ones to learn to love food.
This Sunday we are starting a multi-week feature on ways to encourage food education and exploration at the grocery store. For picky eaters or children who are hesitant to try new foods, the grocery store can be a broad landscape of new experiences that may lead to new food choices at home. Other children with sensory aversions or sensitivities may have a harder time with the overwhelming sights, sounds, and smells at the grocery store. Think about situations that may be challenging for your child and modify these activities as needed. (For example, try "shopping" in your very own pantry or fridge as you are preparing for a meal)
This week's adventure is a Grocery Shelf Scavenger Hunt. This activity teaches children about following directions, listening skills, letter/number/color recognition, and best of all about FOOD!
1. As you are shopping, challenge each child to find something on the shelf nearby.
2. Give clues like, "find a food in a blue box" or "find a food that is round".
3. Teach your child to ask questions if they are having trouble, for example: "Bobby, you look like you are having a hard time finding that food, I wonder if you could ask a question to get another clue?"
4. Always give your child praise when they bring back a food item. This activity is not meant to have a "winner", only to engage children in the process of selecting and purchasing food that will later be prepared and eaten.
This week's adventure is a Grocery Shelf Scavenger Hunt. This activity teaches children about following directions, listening skills, letter/number/color recognition, and best of all about FOOD!
1. As you are shopping, challenge each child to find something on the shelf nearby.
2. Give clues like, "find a food in a blue box" or "find a food that is round".
3. Teach your child to ask questions if they are having trouble, for example: "Bobby, you look like you are having a hard time finding that food, I wonder if you could ask a question to get another clue?"
4. Always give your child praise when they bring back a food item. This activity is not meant to have a "winner", only to engage children in the process of selecting and purchasing food that will later be prepared and eaten.
Children respond well when they are given choices in many day-to-day activities. This includes eating and mealtimes. Giving a child choices when they are grocery shopping gives them a small amount of control over their mealtime experiences later. It can also help children feel more comfortable trying new things if they are exposed to new foods in a "non-mealtime" environment like grocery shopping.
When preparing new foods at home or when serving a meal, talk about how your child helped you shop. This will help to associate that new food with feelings of pride and success. Encourage children to explore the new foods, even if they are not quite ready to taste them.
When preparing new foods at home or when serving a meal, talk about how your child helped you shop. This will help to associate that new food with feelings of pride and success. Encourage children to explore the new foods, even if they are not quite ready to taste them.
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