Alisha Grogan shares that the benefit of allowing and encouraging your child to play with their food is that it helps them eat new foods. That food play also fosters a spirit of exploration with food for many years to come.<\/p>\n
Here are Alisha\u2019s three ways to play with food:<\/p>\n
–\u00a0During playtime<\/p>\n
Set aside time for playing with food away from meals. The first way to get your child playing with food is to set it up just like any other play activity (e.g. painting with food, free play with dough, Cheerio or noodle necklaces).<\/p>\n
–\u00a0While cooking together<\/p>\n
Get your kid playing with food while you cook together! Cooking is a wonderful time to engage your child with playing with their food (e.g. make a smoothie, rinse, dry off, and dip fruit in chocolate).<\/p>\n
–\u00a0During meals<\/p>\n
Encourage playing with food during meals. Playing with food during a meal should not include pressure. You should model playing with food for your child.\u00a0Don\u2019t pick their food up and play with it for them. Pick up your own food and wait for them to imitate.<\/p>\n
Compiled by PHALIMO MOEKETSI\u00a0Source: YOUR KIDS TABLE\/ALISHA GROGAN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ll have to choose whether you\u2019re comfortable with encouraging food play for your kid, but I\u2019m cheering you on because the payoff is worth it. Alisha Grogan shares that the benefit of allowing and encouraging your child to play with their food is that it helps them eat new foods. That food play also fosters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":17957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6272,7228,7227,7229],"class_list":{"0":"post-17956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kids","8":"tag-18-years-of-get-it-bloemfontein","9":"tag-alisha-grogan","10":"tag-why-should-kids-play-with-their-food","11":"tag-your-kids-table"},"yoast_head":"\n