At Poplars, we believe little learners thrive through play. For World Food Day, we’re sharing simple ideas families can try at home to explore food with their senses in fun, creative ways.
Food is so much more than fuel – it’s a rich sensory experience. From the crunch of a crisp apple to the smell of freshly baked bread, every food offers children the chance to explore new textures, scents, and tastes. Sensory play with food is a simple way to spark curiosity, encourage learning, and make mealtimes more enjoyable.
But food isn’t just about the senses – it’s also the foundation of children’s growth, health, and development. From birth, a healthy and balanced diet provides the essential nutrients their bodies and brains need to thrive. Protein helps to build muscles and tissues, healthy fats support brain development, carbohydrates give them energy to play and learn, and vitamins and minerals strengthen immunity, bones, and overall wellbeing. When children eat a varied diet rich in whole foods, fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins, they are better able to focus, learn, and achieve their full potential.
For young children, exploring food with their senses helps them:
- Develop language skills as they describe textures, smells, and flavours.
- Build confidence in trying new foods by becoming familiar with them first.
- Strengthen fine motor skills through peeling, stirring, or picking up small pieces.
- Learn about the world by discovering where foods come from and how they look, smell, and feel.
- Understand the importance of balance by seeing that different foods play different roles in keeping their bodies strong and their minds sharp.
Safe and Fun Ways Families Can Use Food for Sensory Play
- Touch and Texture Exploration
Let your child handle different types of food – smooth grapes, bumpy oranges, rough broccoli, or soft bread dough. Encourage them to describe what they feel using words like squishy, crunchy, or slippery. - Smell and Guess Game
Blindfold your child (or simply cover their eyes) and let them smell a variety of foods such as herbs, spices, or citrus fruits. Ask them to guess the food – this can be both fun and a great way to develop sensory awareness. - Rainbow Food Sorting
Lay out different colourful foods – like red strawberries, orange carrots, and green cucumbers – and invite your child to sort them by colour. This supports learning in both sensory play and early maths skills, while also showing the importance of eating “a rainbow” of foods for different nutrients. - Safe Taste Testing
Offer a small selection of new foods and encourage your child to describe what they taste – sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. Keeping portions small makes this fun and low-pressure, while also helping them learn that every taste and nutrient plays a role in helping their bodies grow strong. - Creative Food Play
Encourage your child to build faces or patterns with fruit and vegetables, or to stamp shapes with halved apples or potatoes. This sparks imagination and helps make healthy foods exciting and approachable.
Encouraging Positive Food Experiences
Children are naturally curious. Giving them opportunities to explore food in fun, pressure-free ways helps them develop healthy relationships with eating. By engaging their senses of touch, smell, and taste, families can make food discovery an adventure.
A balanced diet in childhood sets the stage for lifelong health. When children are exposed to a variety of nourishing foods and allowed to explore them positively, they are more likely to develop healthy eating habits that fuel their bodies and minds. This not only supports physical growth but also helps with concentration, emotional wellbeing, and achieving their very best potential at home, at school, and beyond.
