Food play is a great way for children to explore their senses. Food can be a great, safe way to explore texture, taste, and smell through experimentation and play.
Children explore using their five senses - touching, tasting, hearing, seeing and smelling. These senses are how they learn about the world around them and make sense of the many new things they’re experiencing each day.
Encouraging children to explore these different foods is not only a great sensory experience and can help develop their finger control, but these early experiences can also help develop early language skills.
As children play you can tell them what they are doing and introduce action words like ‘squeeze’, ‘splash’. It's also a great chance to teach them some different describing words like 'soft' and 'wobbly'.
Children learn through experimentation and discovery, so this play is the perfect way to encourage your child to explore new textures and manipulate different materials through touch.
Activity
Sit with your child.
Allow your child to explore the food – squish, squeeze, taste.
Remember to describe what your child is doing, what you can smell, what you can see and taste. This will help develop and expand their vocabulary.
Ideas for food play:
- Cooked/Uncooked pasta
- Cold, cooked spaghetti
- Porridge
- Beans
- Banana
Although it may get messy, and it is sometimes tempting to stop your child from playing with their food, allowing your child to play with food — squishing, smearing and tasting as they go — gives them a sensory experience that helps them learn.