Monthly Blog

Getting children excited about food can sometimes be a challenging task, especially when they are Picky or Problem Feeders. One tip is to incorporate cookie cutters into your food prep away and at the table for meals. You can not only transform ordinary meals into playful creations, but also engage your child’s senses to learn about food through visual, touch, smell, taste, and eating. Learn about the 4 ways we love using cookie cutters to learn about food.

1. Creative Shapes: Engaging Visual Senses
Cookie cutters come in a variety of shapes and sizes, providing endless opportunities for visual exploration. Whether it’s animals, vehicles, letters, or even their favorite cartoon characters, each shape sparks curiosity and captures their attention. By using themed cookie cutters, you can make mealtime a visually stimulating experience. Imagine serving a plate full of dinosaur-shaped sandwiches or stars and hearts for breakfast. Shapes and characters make food more visually appealing, igniting a child’s interest and excitement in eating and engaging in play, which is the key to learning.

2. Food Art: Engaging Touch and Visual Senses
Cookie cutters can transform ordinary ingredients into edible works of art, providing an opportunity for your child to engage their sense of touch while using the cookie cutter as a way to manipulate and change food without overstimulating their touch system. Let them choose the cookie cutters and assist in cutting
out shapes from various foods. They can arrange the shapes on plates, create food sculptures and engage their sense of touch and visual senses. If engaging in food in this way is more difficult for you as a parent at the table, then have your child create up at the counter and present it at mealtime. The learning steps are the same and still work their touch and visual senses which will help them learn about food.

3. Creative Cooking: Engaging Smell Senses Cooking and baking with cookie cutters can release delightful aromas, enticing your child’s sense of smell. The aroma of freshly baked cookies or savory dishes fills the kitchen, creating a sensory experience for the home (which may be a little challenging for some children). Using cookie cutters can engage in these foods and smells by bringing in that play and engagement at their level. One great idea is to use metal cookie cutters to make pancakes or create baked egg dishes.

4. Taste Exploration: Engaging Taste Senses

Cookie cutter-shaped foods can offer a platform for taste steps with creative play. By presenting a variety of flavors in appealing shapes, you can expand your child’s palate and encourage them to try new foods by using cookie cutters to cut fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into exciting shapes. Using shapes like animals can spark your child’s creativity to give the kitty or puppy a kiss, inviting them to put their lips on the food. Or using a tree cookie cutter may invite them to have the idea to chop down the tree by taking a bite. Or catch a mini snowflake watermelon on
their tongue.

By exploring food through visual, tactile, smell, taste, and chewing you can create sensory learning and enjoyment. So, grab your favorite cookie cutters,   go on an exploration of food, and have one more tool in your kitchen for engaging your child at all levels.

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