Make Feeding Fun!
At Garden State Speech Therapy, we understand that mealtime struggles can be a huge source of stress for both children and parents. That’s why we are passionate about making feeding therapy as enjoyable and effective as possible! By incorporating fun and engaging tools and materials into mealtimes, picky eaters can turn into confident food explorers. We’ve listed some of our favorite tools and materials to make mealtimes fun and for kids and parents!
Hand Puppet with “Belly Bag”
A puppet that "eats" food can be a fantastic way to engage children and add some silliness to your mealtimes. Parents can use this puppet to demonstrate trying new foods, positive eating behaviors and encourage interaction with food! Children may feel more comfortable trying new foods themselves after watching the puppet “eat” a new food. This playful approach can help reduce anxiety and increase willingness to try new foods outside of the therapy room.
SpinMeal - Spin the Arrow Plate
A plate with a spinner adds an element of excitement and fun to mealtimes! This plate promotes exploration and helps children feel in control of their food choices as they spin the spinner themselves. When using this plate to try new or non-preferred foods, we recommend filling the sections with 6 preferred or “comfort” foods and limiting new or non-preferred foods to 2 sections.
Cookie Cutters
Parents and caregivers of children with pediatric feeding disorders know - it is difficult to get a child with feeding difficulties excited about mealtimes. Cookie cutters are a simple tool that make mealtimes fun, while engaging a child’s visual, touch, smell, and taste senses. Allow your child to be hands-on while using the cookie cutters to create different shapes in food! This is not only visually stimulating, but allows them to engage with new or non-preferred food with touch, getting close enough to smell new or non-preferred foods, and is likely to entice your child to be willing to taste new foods!
Toddler/Kid-Safe Cooking Set
Toddler and kid-safe cooking tools are a perfect way to get kids to help in the kitchen safely! Many picky eaters are willing to help preparing foods or at least engage in some steps of preparation (such as helping to cut a food), even if they aren’t ready to engage with a new or non-preferred food independently yet! Encouraging any interaction with new or non-preferred foods is a step in the right direction! And of course, using kid-safe kitchen tools is the safest option!
EZPZ Play Mat
Did you know ezpz has an in-house feeding specialist that assists in designing all their products? The opportunity to for children to independently explore and play with food is essential in any feeding therapy program, and the fun shapes and designs of the ezpz Plat Mats helps children learn that food play is fun!
Food Scientist Placemat
The Food Scientist Placemat will help your picky eater learn about and engage with new foods in a fun, child-led way! Children can use the visuals on the placemat to describe new or non-preferred foods using their senses - appearance, smell, texture, and taste. Picky eaters are much more likely to engage with new foods and have positive mealtime experiences when they are under minimal pressure and having fun!