KIDLY’s all about supporting your child’s relationship with food, as it evolves during their first few years and the KIDLY Label feeding range is carefully designed to make those early mealtimes more fun and less frustration, for everyone.
But food is about more than just eating. Here’s how you can enrich their interest in what appears on their plates (and goes in their tummies) by getting them to play with their food. On the playmat, in the kitchen, in the garden and at the craft table:
Enrich their interest in what appears on their plates (& goes in their tummies) by getting them to play with their food.
MAKE BELIEVE FEASTS
From toddlerdom onwards, playing let’s pretend is a huge part of your child’s emotional development. That’s when foodie toys really hit the spot, from choppable veggies and wooden pizzas and birthday cakes that they can decorate and share, all the way up to fully-equipped toy kitchens. It’s all part of helping them see food for the creative and social experience it is. Full of shared excitement - and sometimes odd flavour combinations!
MINI MASTERCHEFS
We sell lots of fun baking kits for kids (and the pride on a three-year-old’s face when they make their first cake is a joy to behold) but you can get kids into cooking from about 18 months onwards. Especially if you take the ‘pop in and out' approach, recommended by Grace Hall at eatsamazing. Involve them in small tasks as you go about your everyday family cooking, like snipping herbs in a cup with safety scissors, rinsing veggies under a tap, sieving flour or mashing bananas. (She has loads of great recipes to whip up with toddlers too.)
Involve them in small tasks as you go about your everyday family cooking.
FOODY FACES
Just google ‘food art for kids’ or stick the phrase into Pinterest, Insta or TikTok and you’ll find so much inspo for turning bananas into dolphins and the humble sandwich, pizza or pancake into pretty much anything your toddler or child can imagine.
GROW YOUR OWN
Everything tastes better straight from the soil and you don’t even need a garden - a bright window ledge is enough to get some produce going. Courgettes, beans and tomatoes are surprisingly easy to cultivate and there’s loads of great advice out there from the likes of BBCGoodFood. Handily, grandparents also LOVE buying kids gardening-themed gifts. #birthdayandchristmaslistsorted
A bright window ledge is enough to get some produce going.
THAT’S CRAFTY!
And finally, seeing food as a medium for self expression can range from making macaroni necklaces and fusilli picture frames to good old fashioned potato printing and making traditional gingerbread houses at Christmas - or why even wait for Christmas? It’s all part of appreciating food in all its glory.
Hope that’s given you some inspo for exploring and playing with food together. And remember, if you need any more guidance, our Live Chat Team is always here to help, from 9am to 5pm weekdays (apart from bank holidays). Just hit that purple button, bottom right.