This is something that was drilled into us as kids, but I’ve been wondering, why shouldn’t we let children play with their food? Why not make food fun?

In this month’s column I’d like to explore how we can actively encourage our children to play with their food and, in turn, introduce new flavours, textures, world knowledge and encourage curiosity about the world around them.

A baby begins their journey of food with weaning, sampling soft textures with no lumps to ease the swallowing process and build up baby’s eating skills. Next comes different textures and chewing challenges, and before we know it our children are biting down on everything they see and discovering a wonderful world of taste.

I know it is tempting to stay safe and offer only foods they – and you – are familiar with; foods you know they will enjoy and actually eat, and this is obviously important for mealtimes. But I am proposing using food as play and allowing a full range of exploration of textures: hard, soft, squidgy, mushy.

An edible, fun game that is easy to clean up

Why not offer these at playtime, on a high chair or play tray? Explore the colours of the rainbow, from pink beetroots to green avocado. Let them discover a variety of textures, from mashed berries to vegetable sticks. Offer baby a chance to make art with food. Painting with broccoli heads dipped into mashed vegetables creates a game which is entirely edible, lots of fun and easy to clean up with a wipe.

“Why on earth would I do this?” I hear you cry. To which I respond, “just for fun!”

We spend so much time with our children compartmentalising everything into its ‘right place’, and creating stress and tension around the rights and wrongs of a situation. Opening up the parameters of what is play, what is fun, and what is serious will free you up to enjoy your baby, and give them more confidence and joy in their lives. It will begin a lifelong journey of learning together, which underpins their education in future years.

Learning the names of different foods, talking about how they are grown, and exploring how they can be combined to make new flavours can give you both a lot of satisfaction. I still remember seeing a rice plant when visiting The Eden Project aged 29 and being utterly amazed!

As I always say, “every day is a school day”. In the best sense of the word, we are always learning, and when learning is made fun and yummy, there is so much to gain.
If you want to develop your children’s love for food even further, you could visit a local farm, or perhaps a chocolate factory to really dig into the production history. To begin with, though, why not simply have fun with food and see where the adventure leads you?