Food Exploration Fun
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Touch and Taste Game
What You Need
- 2 tablespoons of a fruit
- 2 tablespoons of a vegetable
- 2 tablespoons of a second fruit or vegetable
Suggested fruits and vegetables are listed below:
- Banana slices
- Blueberries
- Orange slices
- Red bell pepper roasted or fresh bite-size pieces
- Asparagus cooked bite-size pieces
- Broccoli steamed bite-size florets
How To Play
- Set out several small pieces of fruit, some familiar and some new, such as banana slices and blueberries.
- Have your toddler feel each fruit. Ask, "Is it smooth, slippery or lumpy"?
- Ask her to take a taste of each. Ask, as she takes a taste, "How does it feel on your tongue?" "Does it feel smooth, slippery or lumpy"?
- Repeat this game using small portions of vegetables such as bite-size pieces of roasted red bell pepper or cooked asparagus.
- Playing this game might just add new healthy foods to her diet along with discovering her sense of taste, and touch.
Tasting Train
This is a great way to introduce new foods at mealtime to the toddler that doesn't want her foods to touch!
Click here for the Tasting Train grill pattern
What You Need
- 6 small plastic containers (such as margarine tubs)
- 1-hole punch
- Kitchen twine
- 12 wooden wheels (1-inch wide, available at craft stores)
- 1 sheet of craft foam (any color, available at craft stores)
- Craft glue gun
- 3 small (3 oz.) paper or plastic cups
How To Make It
- Collect 3 plastic containers for the train cars. You can save margarine tubs or purchase small, plastic food-storage containers at the market.
- Use a 1-hole punch to make two holes directly across from each other under the upper rim of the 3 containers.
- Tie the 3 containers together at these holes using kitchen twine.
- To make the train look a little more authentic, use a craft glue gun to adhere 2 wheels to the sides of each car.
- Print out the Tasting Train grill pattern.
- Use the pattern to cut out the Tasting Train grill from a piece of craft foam.
- Glue the Tasting Train grill to the front car of the Tasting Train.
- Add a 6-inch length of twine to the hole you made on the front car so that your child can pull the train around.
How To Play
- The 3 paper or plastic cups will be used to hold your child's food.
- Fill them with your chosen mealtime food (offer ¼ cup serving in each cup) and set them into each train car.
- While your child snacks from his Tasting Train, read him a train story such as:
- Chugga-Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis
- Train Song by Harriet Ziefert
- When mealtime is over, you can remove and wash the 3 inside containers for future snacks.
Hide-and-Seek: The Lunch Game
Your toddler will be trying new foods, getting some exercise, and having fun with you at the same time!
What You Need
- Foods such as:
- 3-4 whole-grain crackers
- 3-4 cheese cubes
- 2-4 tablespoons cooked or fresh bite-size asparagus spears
- 2 tablespoons sliced strawberries or blueberries
- Snack-sized resealable, plastic bags
- 1 bag of premade decorative bows
How To Play
- Prepare the cheese cubes, asparagus bite-size pieces and fruit slices, place each item in a different snack-sized resealable plastic bag.
- Stick a different colored bow on the side of each filled bag.
- Pick a toddler-safe area in your home to hide the lunch.
- Tell your child that a lunch is hiding and you both have to go find it!
- Say, "Let's go look in the family room, can you find something with a red bow?"
- Once you and your toddler have found all the bags, spread out a blanket on the floor and have lunchtime picnic!