Christmas Party
Engaging students in food play activities can help reduce anxiety or fear around food. Allow them to explore food at their own pace, using all their senses—touching, smelling, and investigating it freely. It’s important to never force children to eat during this play, if they choose to taste the food, consider it a positive step forward.
Food Play Ideas
Custard, Yogurt, or Cream Play Pour custard, yogurt, or squirty cream into a water tray or smaller messy trays. Encourage students to explore the texture, taste, and smell by making a mess. Add toys to the mix for added fun, or use your hands to create shapes, handprints, and footprints.
Dry Pasta or Rice Play Spread pasta or rice on a table or in a tray for students to explore. You can enhance the activity by adding toys, containers, or building blocks, encouraging learning and play. This can also become a ‘lucky dip’ game or help students find pieces to complete a puzzle. Once they’re comfortable with dry food, introduce wet hands so the pasta or rice sticks to them, adding a new sensory layer.
Cornflour Gloop Create ‘gloop’ by mixing cornflour and water, producing a fascinating substance that students can experiment with. Let them feel the gloop, roll it into a ball, and watch it melt back into a liquid when left still. Add food coloring, sand for texture, or scented oils for an enhanced experience. Gloop is also perfect for practicing letter formation or making patterns that magically disappear.
Mousse Play Prepare mousse following the packet instructions, and once set, spread it out on a table or in a messy tray. Add toys like tea sets, blocks, or plastic animals, encouraging students to explore the mousse with their hands. Use the mousse for sensory exploration, handprints, footprints, or even as a ‘lucky dip’ for hidden objects.
Tactile Pathway Create a tactile pathway by filling large trays with various textured foods like wet pasta, dry pasta, rice, or jelly. Let students walk barefoot or crawl through the trays, feeling the different sensations with their feet or hands.
Cooked Pasta Play Cook a large batch of spaghetti or other pasta, and for added fun, you can color the pasta by adding food dye to the cooking water. You might create a blue ocean scene in a paddling pool, complete with small sea creatures. Provide kitchen tools like strainers, tongs, spoons, and tweezers to encourage pretend play. For added creativity, dip the pasta in paint and drag it across paper to create art, or invite students to walk through trays of cooked pasta for a unique sensory experience.
Vegetable Printing Cut potatoes, carrots, or broccoli into halves and dip them in paint to create colorful patterns and prints on paper. This activity is a fun way for students to explore shapes and textures while making art.
Cream or Shaving Foam Play Using allergen-free shaving foam or whipped cream, let students explore the texture by placing it on tables, mirrors, or even windows. Encourage them to draw shapes with their fingers or use the cream to decorate biscuits. Alternatively, fill trays with foam and hide small objects like buttons, coins, or figures for a sensory treasure hunt. Enhance the experience by adding textures like glitter, pasta, or beads, and introduce color mixing with food coloring or paint.
Marshmallow Fun Students can use marshmallows and dried pasta or skewers to create fun animals, shapes, or structures. This activity combines fine motor skills with creative building.
Fruit and Vegetable Faces Using a variety of fruits and vegetables with different shapes, have students carve, slice, or dice to create imaginative faces, animals, or other objects. You can dip these creations into paint to make prints or into melted chocolate for a tasty treat.
Mash-Up Play Mash soft fruits like bananas or strawberries and create paths for toy cars to drive through, combining sensory play with imaginative storytelling.
These activities help students engage with food in a playful, pressure-free way while expanding their sensory experiences.
