Why, according to research, playing with food is good for children

Keep those snout cleaners at the ready…

Playing with your food

If you have put a meal on the table with love, your child does not want to know anything about it. Hugely frustrating. You may then ask (or beg) him to take a bite. It’s a logical response that unfortunately only backfires. British research shows that eating without pressure, even if it is just a little prick in a tomato, stimulates your child to try more flavors and textures. Because the same applies at the dining table: children learn by playing. In the study, 62 toddlers and preschoolers were divided into three groups. One group played with food, a second group did another sensory activity and a third group looked at pictures of fruit and vegetables while eating. What turned out? The children who played with food ended up eating a lot more fruit and vegetables than the other groups.

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Prick, crush, stack

Although food sounds like a given, it is a big job for children. You use quite a bit of muscle for it. “Eating is hard work, so doing it playfully makes it a lot less stressful for your child,” says pediatric nutritionist Simone Emery. But how do you do that? Put some familiar fruits and vegetables on the plate and add one or two unknown products. Then you let that grease brush take its course. Stacking, pricking, crushing: everything is allowed. In this way you let your child get used to the new structure, smell and color of the food on his plate. And don’t forget: there’s no need to eat, that’s just a nice bonus, Emery says. Patience is a virtue.

Source: Mother.ly

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