Should I Allow My Child To Play With Food?
Surely, when you were a child, your parents will have told you on many occasions not to play with food. In fact, it is a phrase that many mothers and fathers repeat ad nauseam: it happens very often, in fact, to see that the little ones, once they find the plate in front of them, start playing with food.
Of course: for children, foods offer a wide range of possibilities. For this reason, they feel compelled to manipulate them. As a parent, you don’t have to worry too much if your child does the same, because playing with food prevents them from developing a certain rejection of certain foods.
Although most children are reprimanded for playing with food, it is believed that their interaction with food may be the best way for them to develop healthy eating habits from an early age.
5 benefits of playing with food
While it may seem like a wrong idea at first glance, playing with food offers many benefits to children. Take note, because we are going to list them in the following lines:
1. Stimulates the senses
In the digital world we live in, food represents a perfect opportunity that allows children to stimulate their senses.
With food, in fact, it is possible to perform any kind of activity. For example: create shapes with food to make your child stimulate touch, blindfold him to make him discover, through the smell, what food it is, introduce a new seasoning in his meals and see if he can distinguish it from others by taste, etc.
2. They become more likely to eat any kind of food
Children may find it difficult to eat certain foods. In this sense, playing with food can help them get rid of some phobias that prevent them from tasting and appreciating certain dishes.
For example, most of them are reluctant to eat healthy vegetable salads. In these cases, we recommend that you separate all the foods you wish to include in the salad and encourage the child to use their imagination to create a collage, a face or a beautiful flower. Of course: without forgetting, however, that the goal is to make him eat his own creations.
3. Awaken interest in cooking
Without a doubt, playing with food allows children to learn about different types of food and, in some cases, develop an interest in cooking.
You have to consider that the simple fact that your child shows interest in the experience itself makes it turn into a learning moment. This way he will understand the processes necessary for the elaboration of some dishes.
4. Stimulates cognitive development
Contrary to what many parents may think, playing with food stimulates children’s cognitive development. That’s right: babies who manipulate food acquire a greater taste for exploration and learn their first words prematurely.
In this sense, we recommend that you encourage your baby to explore when it comes time to sit down at the table. Some foods, such as puree, juice or soup, provide essential information to stimulate your cognitive development.
5. Children use colors and textures as an artistic expression
You have to take into account that the wide variety of colors and textures that babies can find in food allows them to create opportunities for artistic expression.
Similarly, we suggest that you ask your child to try to form a rainbow with the different colors offered by the plants. It can also experiment with textures, be it hard or soft foods. For example, being able to make the dough for a pizza and invite the little one to leave his handprint in it or to use it to create shapes and letters.
For all the reasons that have been explained so far, we advise you, when you see your child playing with food, to resist the temptation to interfere with this playful moment. This activity actually allows him to experience sensations and thus discover, through the senses, the different types of food.
Remember: do not worry if your child plays with food, as it is perfectly normal for them to do so before tasting it. Without a doubt, this is the first step towards accepting it.
