Taste Test

Here's a wonderful little game you can play with your children. It works well for any child of an age to eat solid foods. Go to your spice cabinet and gather up a bunch of different spices. Name the spice, then poor a little bit out on to a plate, or into your hand. Have them taste each spice in order, repeating the name again as they taste it. Keep water handy if you let them taste anything spicy. If you have them dip a wet finger into the spices (a handy way to get a little bit to their mouths) just make sure they don't rub their eyes.

Vary the exercise on different occasions. Instead of spices, use different kinds of melons, or fruits, or vegetables. One they're familiar with the game, try making it more and more subtle. Use five kinds of apples, or oranges, or peppers, or beans.

As a bonus, you'll be exposing your toddlers to a variety of different foods before they've developed strong preferences, or getting your preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables, if they often resist. Maybe they'll even decide they like pears, or mangoes.

You can discuss and describe the different textures and colors of the spices, or fruits, or vegetables. You can talk about the different shapes, and different kinds of skins, or how the plant grows. You can collect the seeds, and see how different they look. Plant them as another special project. You can draw pictures with your children of the different foods, or write out the names in letters.

Playing with food. Now isn't that something every kid likes?