Our children need to eat less than we think. Refer to our tummy size guide which illustrates just how small your baby’s stomach is during their first year of life. In addition, your toddler’s food consumption can vary greatly day-to-day, where one day they eat an entire Costco hotdog and the next day, just a few crackers.

There’s a great mindset shift you can take to ease the stress: “I will focus on food exploration instead of food consumption.“

The more a child is exposed to flavors and textures, the more their food repertoire will grow. Focus on describing the foods with their color, shape, smell, texture and taste. Check out Arielle Dan Lebovitz: 101 Descriptive Words for Food Explorers for ideas.

Food exploration also helps us learn about our child’s preferences and how to offer foods they have been denying in different ways. For example, if a child prefers crunchy foods over soft foods, try offering a mashed food (I.e. avocado) on a crunchy food (i.e. cracker). 

Research say foods need to be offered up to 15 times before we know if we like them! We just have to continue the exposure in fun ways. An additional way to explore foods outside the table is with sensory bins and food prep!

Furthermore, remind yourself that it is  developmentally normal for toddlers to resist foods. They are learning bodily autonomy, testing boundaries, and their senses are changing. 

So be patient and be confident that your child will expand their food horizons in time, as long as we keep offering foods in fun ways. Follow along on our newsletter and on social for ideas and inspiration! 

The post The Number One Mindset Shift to Take to Lower Anxiety at the Table  appeared first on Feeling Yum.

At Feeling Yum, we share recipes for sensory bin recipes with supplies you can find in your kitchen. If your child gets curious and puts some of the materials in their mouth, it will be safe because everything is edible. This recipe suggests to bake the flour prior to playing with it to kill any bacteria that may be present, since there have been some cases where E-coli has been detected in raw flour. In addition, you won’t have to shop for anything extra to create this fun activity! For this activity, we used Inspire My Play Sensory Bin for the container and adapted a recipe from their cloud dough recipe.

If your child is cautious about touching the textures at first, let them watch you mix and interact with the materials first. You can then offer them utensils, such as spoons or cups, so they could interact with the textures without touching them. Once they are more open to touching the materials, offer them a towel they can wipe their hands on so they are more open to exploring.

Moon sand is able to moulded and shaped, so get creative with what materials you’d like to add to the bin. In this example, we offered silicone muffin cups so your child could engage in pretend play and bake some cupcakes for a birthday! We are showing a Valentine themed bin and used dragon fruit powder (you could also use beet powder) to make the material a vibrant pink. Variations could include using cocoa powder (to make pretend mud or chocolate ice cream) or spirulina powder (to make it green for a St. Patrick’s Day theme).

This recipe does get messy, so some tips are to lay a tarp on the floor (such as a sheet, shower curtain, or picnic blanket) or take the activity outside. Also make sure to wear clothes that can get dirty or be washed.

Moon Sand Valentine Sensory Bin Recipe

Age: 3 years+

Messiness: Level 3/3

Ingredients

• 4 cups of flour
• ½ cup of vegetable oil (we used Safflower oil)
• ¼ cup dragon fruit or beet powder (alternatively, you could use powdered food coloring)

Directions

1. Spread the flour on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes at 350° Fahrenheit.
2. Scoop and pour the flour into the sensory bin container.
3. Mix the dragon fruit or beet powder with the flour.
4. Evenly pour the oil over and flour mixture and stir until combined and the mixture creates small balls.

The post 2 Ingredient Moon Sand Sensory Bin Recipe appeared first on Feeling Yum.