Reviewed by Dani-Lee Eve BSc Occupational Therapy, Sensory Integration Certified, SOS Feeding Therapist
Sensory play with food is so overlooked, especially as many children are taught, you don’t play with your food, you eat it! Also, it can feel like hard work for us parents sorting out the play and cleaning up the mess. It is probably the last thing on your mind.
However, sensory play with food is SO important as children learn best through play.. Whilst playing, the perception of demand is reduced and thus, using play to explore different tastes, textures and smells is less overwhelming, than when sitting at the table.
This blog delves into the reasons why you should take the time to do sensory play with food, tips to get you started along with 16 ideas to help fussy eaters become more adventurous with food.
What is sensory play?
Sensory play is essentially as it says, playing through their senses. Such as through sight, touch, smell, taste or hearing,
What age can they start?
For tactile play (playing with the hands) start from 6 months with baby safe foods. It is best to use larger, firm foods that won’t break off if the baby puts them in their mouth.
Why is it so important?
- Fun activity – It’s a fun activity for kids (maybe not the parents)
- Children learn best through play – It reduces anxiety of having to eat, introducing little ones to different foods in a fun, safe way. AND there is the added benefit of it helps build those fine motor skills such as picking up foods with a pincer grip and coordination.
- Sensory experience – Eating is a sensory experience involving many different senses, including sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, which can be safely explored, using various foods. These sensory experiences are so crucial for our little ones.
- Helps those with feeding challenges – Particularly good for those with feeding challenges and sensory issues to get them exposed to foods in a fun, safe environment. Repeated exposure to new foods can help them with picky eating.
- More open to exploring food – Exposure during a relaxed time when they are more likely to interact and play with food.
- No pressure to eat foods – it is simply about exploring and learning, but you may find they start wanting to eat them.
10 Tips for sensory food play
- Find some time for the activities – it is best to do this outside of mealtimes and when they are happy, relaxed and willing to play.
- Think about what type of play they enjoy and is appropriate for their age. Also, think about what textures they are comfortable with to use as play materials to start with. Dry, bigger textures are easier to accept initially such as dried beans, than more wet, fine textures such as cornflour.
- You can start playing with foods they are already exposed to, and then start to add in some new foods and ones that you would ultimately like them to try and eat.
- Start with small amounts of food so you are not wasting food and can pop them into storage pots for another day.
- Remind your little ones that they don’t have to eat the foods, simply learn about texture, smell, look etc. – but ultimately this would be the goal.
- Play along with your child – this is part of the experience and connection with you. If they see you are engaging with the foods they are more likely to do the same. Turn the food into other objects- broccoli is a tree; a carrot is a paintbrush.
- Have fun- if it is not fun they won’t do it. So take it at their pace and if they have had enough then finish the activity and try another day.
- Let your child wipe or wash their hands if they need to have a cloth or water bowl nearby. Never force your child to touch anything they do not want to. Exposure to looking at different foods and smelling different foods is also a great way to start!
- If they are not ready to touch food with their fingers, start with using a utensil like a pick stick or tong to pick it up.
- Supervise young children at all times.
Useful items
You don’t have to rush out and buy lots of fancy tools but there are some basic items to help.
- A rectangle plastic tray with sides to contain the mess or you can buy a bin with a lid. Alternatively you could use a high chair tray.
- Storage pots with lids – small ones are great as you don’t need lots of food to store the food away
- Wipeable mat or mess mat – something you can cover the floor or table
- A small cup – for pouring, scooping etc
- A plastic or melamine plate
- Kitchen utensils -such as tongs, chopsticks, picksticks, measuring spoons, pastry brush
- Novelty items like cookie cutters and crinkle cutters
16 sensory food play ideas
Play doesn’t have to be complicated or involve alot of preparation. Start with some easy, simple ideas. Below I have categorized a list of dry, wet, and hard food sensory activities, along with age-appropriate suggestions from 6 months to 5+ years.
Remember to supervise your child at all times and NOT use inappropriate foods or toys for their age that are a choking hazard. The below are suggested ages based on typical development.
Also, these are just some food play examples. Follow your child’s lead on the sort of activities they like.
Dry Food Sensory Play
| Activity | Suggested Ages | How to Play |
| 1.Rainbow pasta or rice | 9 months – 5+ years | Dye dry pasta or rice with food colouring and let kids scoop, pour, and mix. Or drive cars and small vehicles through the pasta/rice. |
| 2. Pour and scoop cereal | 9 months – 5+ years | Use O-shaped cereal or puffed grains with cups and scoops to develop fine motor skills |
| 3. Treasure hunt | 1 – 5+ years | Hide small toys in a bin of oats, lentils, or dry beans for a fun discovery game. |
| 4. Chickpea sand | 2 – 5+ years | Blend dried chickpeas into a fine powder for a sand-like texture—perfect for digging and molding. Add water to help make moulds. |
| 5. Sensory play with flour such as flour writing | 3 – 5+ years | Spread some flour on a tray and let kids draw or trace letters with fingers or a paintbrush |
Wet food play
Ideal for 1 year or older, but younger babies can participate with supervision.
| Activity | Suggested Ages | How to Play |
| 6.Whipped cream or squirty cream play | 6 months – 5+ years | Let them explore fluffy whipped cream or squirty cream. They can draw letters and numbers in it with their fingers. Or make a funny mustache |
| 7. Create a jelly bin/container for dig and rescue | 6 months – 5+ years | Set small toys in jelly and let kids squish and rescue them. (make sure the small toys are suitable for their age) |
| 8. Cornflour goo | 1 – 5+ years | Mix cornflour with water for a fascinating solid-liquid sensory experience |
| 9. Slime – chia seed slime | 1 – 5+ years | Soak some chia seeds in water and leave overnight. Let them play with the slimy lumpy texture. |
| 10. Yoghurt painting | 1 – 3 years | Use coloured or plain yoghurt to paint with their fingers. Use fruit puree or natural colouring to create colours |
| 11. Bread painting | 1 – 5+ years | Paint some white bread with a coloured milk and dye mix, such as creating a rainbow or face |
Hard foods (fruit and vegetables) play
These ideas are great for older babies/children as they are more capable of holding foods. Also great for touch, smell, sight and sound.
| Activity | Suggested Ages | How to Play |
| 12. Sorting game (by shape, colour & texture | 1 -5 yrs | Get them to arrange whole pieces of raw vegetables into groups of the same shape, colour or texture. E.g smooth peas, bumpy broccoli) |
| 13. Vegetable stamping | 1-5 yrs | Cut some raw vegetables like carrots, peppers and potatoes and make some natural food based paint like coloured yoghurt and let them stamp on some paper |
| 14. Crunching test | 1 – 5 yrs | Offer some different crunchy foods such as carrots, cucumber) and explore the sound they make when broken or bitten |
| 15. Grating | 2 – 5yrs | Let them grate some raw fruits and vegetables like apples, carrots and cucumber (using safe mini grater) so they can explore the textures, smell |
| 16. Smashing | 2 – 5yrs | Give them a mini mallet to smash up some root vegetables like carrots or parsnips |
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