Food Play

“Play with your Food!”.

Many children with severe, complex and profound special educational needs may experience feeding challenges. For some, this might be because of Dysphagia (physical difficulties that make it unsafe to swallow), because of physical, physiological or psychological difficulties or because of sensory integration challenges which make it an unpleasant and difficult experience.

Whenever offering food related play, please ensure that you discuss it with the child’s dysphagia trained Speech and Language Therapist to make sure that it is safe for a child to do so and take into account any dietary requirements.

Play with your food.

Playing with food is rarely encouraged. Yet for pupils with feeding difficulties, it is one of the most powerful tools to developing feeding skills and improving their experience of food. Play could be related to cooking and baking (as discussed in our food fun blog post), it might be edible OR it might be using unprepared foods.

We are sharing with you some examples of how pupils can be inspired to play with their food in these fun and motivating activities that can be set up as part of carousel play.

Jumping…Rice.

Uncooked rice, dyed with food colouring and placed on a drum. In this activity, there is no demand to eat yet pupils are exposed to something that might be used in kitchen. It has a dry texture which is usually easier to tolerate than wet. It does have small grains but tends to leave little residue on the hands without the need for wiping them which makes it easier to mange than some other tactile and messy play activities such as flour. Placing the rice on the drum means that when you bang the drum it bounces, a fun cause and effect activity for those pupils that enjoy playing at this level!

Imaginary Play.

No food in sight but pupils will get the chance to explore utensils used during mealtime routines.

Food Science.

Pull apart a pumpkin and look inside! Exploring food within activities that there is no demand to eat empowers pupils to participate calmly in an activity which is going to challenges their senses.

Pumpkins are a tricky texture to manage at first because of the wet and stickiness that can get stuck to your fingers. However, if you play with the same pumpkins throughout the week, they gradually dry out and those with tactile hyperresponsivity can find them easier to manage.

Even better if… The Pupils used wheelbarrows to collect pumpkins from the playground!

Cause and Effect.

Hooking up some household kitchen appliances to switches can be a great way to capture the attention of pupils who love big cause and effect experiences. These activities obviously have to be used under closer supervision (as do all).

The sound of a popcorn machine or blender might be very loud for some pupils, but we have actually found that by using a switch to put the pupil in control of turning it on and off helps them to take part and enjoy this activity too.

Tell Stories.

There are lots of stories written about food.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Spot Bakes a Cake, Supertato, Super Daisy, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Handa’s Surprise, can all be turned into story trays to inspire pupils to explore different smells, tastes and textures in a safe, playful way.

Grow Your Own….

You don’t have to have green fingers or even a garden to experience the joy of digging up your own vegetables. Fill a box with soil and bury some root vegetables to find.

Even better if….. the carrots still had their leafy tops on.

Top tip - if you know someone with a vegetable garden or an allotment, ask if you can borrow a full potato plant to bury.

Bake.

Whenever we are having food fun, the idea is for pupils to get involved at every stage of the process. As with any playful interaction, educators must follow the lead of the pupils and respond and interact in a way that will enhance their learning. This will not necessarily equate to perfect bake but that is ok! Cheat and use cake mix bags or have some ready made cakes to taste what you have made.

Taste.

A very big step to overcome BEFORE a pupil might take food into their mouth to taste it, is to be happy to touch it with the very tip of their finger.

Food based play can support children to improve their experience and response to a range of sensory experiences which are commonly experienced when feeding and during meal time routines.

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Evidence for Learning.

What can pupils learn from playing with their food?

• Responds to different tastes, smells and temperatures during supported exploration.

• Explores the sensory experiences of food.

• Develops oral-motor awareness.

• Brings food to mouth.

• Safely eats food with a range of consistency and texture. 

• Requests for more of preferred foods.

• Handles mealtime utensils with increasing control and coordination.

Examples taken from The Springboard Curriculum: Assessment Framework. Core Curriculum Area: PSED, Learning Aspect: Feeding, Inner to Outer Learning Circles.

If you are enjoying our content, The Springboard Curriculum is available to buy here as an immediate digital download. You can follow the link to view sample pages before you buy. The reason we decided to share our work? To allow educators to use their time creatively to maximise play and tailor the learning activities to the strengths and challenges of each pupil.

£1 of every sale goes to the school’s charity to give back to the educators and pupils who inspired the curriculum.