Playing with your food can be a great thing for picky eaters! Grab this free printable educational activity designed to encourage toddlers to learn to count and to try and touch new foods! Your little ones will love this breakfast activity for toddlers.
Getting picky eaters to try new foods is hard
If you have a picky eater kid, you know how challenging it can be to get them to try new foods. Even kid-friendly food, such as pancakes, muffins, or waffles are sometimes challenging for picky kids to eat, or even to touch with their fingers.
It took me a while to understand that with my own son, but it's so true! Kids with sensory issues, or kids who don't like many different textures are sometimes scared of even seeing or touching a new food.
So I am sharing a great way to get kids to play with food in a way that does not feel scary or threatening to them: with a printable breakfast activity!
You can sign up for my newsletter to get access to the free printable game immediately, but I encourage you to read below to see how you can use this activity to get your picky toddlers to eat.
Try this other fun food activity for picky eaters: Free Printable Food Dice Game
Printable breakfast activity
Letting picky toddlers play with paper food is a great way for them to see that pancakes, waffles, and other new foods can be fun! Get them used to the idea that these are things that people eat and are not scary.
This printable activity has 9 pages and is made up of:
- 3 breakfast foods pages
- 3foldable dice pages, each with numbers and breakfast toppings
- A page of printable pancake toppings
- Instructions for three ways to play!
Related recipe: 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
Combining games with eating
Incorporating games with trying new foods is a great way to get picky eaters to relax about the idea of trying new foods, as well as forget about the "pressure" of having to try new food. This is a technique that our feeding therapist recommended (read about our experience with feeding therapy for picky eating): combine simple, fun games with trying new foods.
Related: Free I SPY Printable
How to play
Step 1: Prepare pancakes, waffles, or muffins for your child. Here are a few great recipes: blueberry pancakes, pumpkin protein pancakes, vegan buttermilk pancakes and gluten-free waffles (for kiddos with allergies), banana nut muffins. Tip: If you have the time and patience, have your child help with the cooking! There are so many benefits to cooking with picky eaters.
Step 2: Get blueberries, chocolate chips, and sliced bananas.
Step 3: Print the game, and cut out all the pieces, and glue the dice together.
Step 4: Have your child roll the dice, and place the game pieces onto the foods. At the same time, have them place the real toppings onto the food - encourage them to use their fingers to get some sensory play in there!
Step 5: If your child wants to, they can try the new food with different toppings!
Related post: Breakfast recipes with hidden vegetables
Tips for introducing new foods to picky eaters
→ Do this activity when your child is not too hungry and not too full (here is our schedule for a 2 year old - I would do this activity halfway between a meal and a snack). This way they are not too cranky and hungry, but also not too full to try to take a bite.
→ The most important thing to keep in mind is to never pressure your child to eat the new food. Don't turn the game into a power struggle. Don't let them stress out about pancakes or waffles, it's just not worth it! Keep it fun, and let them enjoy playing a game with you.
Related: 60+ Delicious Muffin Recipes
Easy beginner counting game
This game is a great way to introduce basic numbers and counting to toddlers, as well as to teach toddlers the concept of using dice for board games and taking turns. Page 9 of the printable has directions for 3 different ways to play the game, or make up your own games with your little one!
Related article: Free Printable Sequencing Puzzle
Download the free printable breakfast game
Click here or on the image below to sign up for the High Chair Chronicles newsletter and get immediate access to print this breakfast game, as well as ALL my free printables (with lots of helpful resources for parents of toddlers and picky eaters!).
Other helpful resources for picky eaters and parents
- Picky eater foods worksheet
- Easy Toddler Breakfast Recipes
- How to get toddlers to eat tomatoes
- Hidden vegetable toddler-friendly recipes
- Free printable visual schedule for toddlers
- 52 Weeks of Sensory
Did you enjoy this printable game?? Make sure to SAVE it on Pinterest for later, and share it with a friend!