There are lots of activities you can do to encourage healthy eating in children during EYFS, says Beth Downie…
We all want to encourage children to get the full benefits of food by having a balanced and varied diet, allowing them to grow and thrive in the best possible way.
However, we know there are times when it can be a challenge to get children to eat even the most everyday types of food.
Reluctant eating is an unwillingness to eat familiar food or to try new foods, as well as strong food preferences.
It is most common in children aged two to five years old and peaks around three years of age. For most children this is just a short phase, so perseverance is key.
Often, the less fuss made about a child’s eating, the quicker the phase will pass. However, if it does become a persistent problem, this can result in poor dietary variety during early childhood.
If a child is active, gaining weight, and eating foods from the main food groups, then there is no need to worry.
Children may refuse a certain food because it looks different. Think about a fresh strawberry – sometimes we pick one that is perfectly sweet and juicy, while another one from the same punnet may be less ripe, hard, or even sharp in taste.
Just a single negative tasting experience can be enough for children to be reluctant to try another bite.
Frustratingly, we don’t often see the same issue with manufactured food items – a crisp or chocolate biscuit, for example, is consistently made to the exact same specification.
Children find this reassuring, hence why these items are less likely to be rejected over fresh food.
Research evidence has found that experiential learning activities around food can improve children’s familiarity of, and thereby increase willingness to try, unfamiliar foods.
Together with repeated taste exposure, it can help increase intake of those foods.
There are many ways to incorporate food-based activities into the early years timetable and curriculum. The list below can be aligned into the different strands of the curriculum while encouraging the exploration of new foods.
They can support the Early Learning Goals including Managing Self (understanding the importance of healthy food choices) and Fine Motor Skills (use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery).
This involves using all five senses to discover new foods.
Use fruit and vegetables as tools for painting, printing or as still life to draw. This can help children become familiar with them, prior to tasting.
This helps children learn more about how food can be grown.
Eating with peers and staff at snack/lunchtime can help to encourage children to try new foods. If available in the setting, accessing school dinners can be helpful in widening tastes too.
Encourage children to try a new food with these four steps:
1. Touch it. What does it feel like?
2. Sniff it. Can they describe what it smells like?
3. Lick it. What does it taste like? How does it feel on their lips, or on their tongue? Have they tasted it before?
4. Nibble it. (If they feel comfortable doing so). What do they think about it? Does it remind them of something similar that they have tasted before?
Perservere and provide opportunities. It can take a child 20 times of trying a new food before they enjoy it.
Be a good role model. Our attitude to trying and eating foods plays a major role in children developing their tastes and habits. If you are adventurous with food, they are more likely to be too.
Experiment. Be creative with foods and the way that they are prepared. Try offering raw and cooked options (think spinach, for example), different cuts, shapes, and grating rather than chopping to vary it.
Arrange the food on the plate attractively to make it more appealing – perhaps as a picture, a happy face, or spelling out their name.
Stay positive. It’s best to steer clear of negative behaviours around food and mealtimes. If a child rejects a food, do not force it; move on and offer again later.
Praise them for trying a new food, but do not reward them with other preferred foods, as it can devalue the new or non-preferred foods.
Remember, don’t give up! Just as their bodies are growing, children’s taste buds are evolving too. One day they may say they detest something, but a month later they may absolutely love it!
Beth Downie has experience across the food industry, as well as in public health and community nutrition and wellbeing. She is a consultant nutritionist to Purely Nutrition and the PhunkyFoods programme. Visit purelynutrition.com
