Do play with your food!
Ella’s Kitchen have been busy cooking up a fabulous initiative that encourages little ones to develop a happy, healthy relationship with food. Evidence shows that children are more likely to enjoy healthier foods like fruit and vegetables if they are exposed to them during their early years and sensory play can play a big part in their willingness to try new foods.
This is where the staff from Kids People come out to play. Members of the team come from different backgrounds but all have experience in performance and/or children’s entertainment meaning they can really bring the event to life, making it more dynamic than the average classroom lesson and more accessible to individuals that respond better to creative stimuli.
The truck stops here!
It’s hard to miss the Eat, Play, Love truck as it makes its way across the length and breadth of the country. It’s eye catching and colourful on the outside, complete with broccoli wing mirrors.
The vibrant colour theme is continued on the inside where it is also kitted out with five sensory play stations for little ones to explore and learn through play. There is a rainbow to group fruit and vegetables into different colours, a sound station to explore the possibilities of noisy greens, a taste wheel to match the flavour with the food, touchy feely drawers for a hands-on experience and smelling pods to enjoy some of the more aromatic produce.
Apart from being a real treat for all five of the senses, little ones are encouraged to come up with as many adjectives as they can to describe what they are experiencing.
Top class!
As a supplement to the on-board activities, we also run a classroom session. The idea of using all five of our senses is reinforced through play and there is even an opportunity to taste samples of different fruit and vegetables for anyone that would like to.
There is never any pressure for anyone to join in with any of the activities if they don’t want to and the benefit is never lost as studies show that even just watching others partake in exercises is enough exposure to bring little ones one step closer to a food that they may otherwise be reluctant to try.
Never wanting anyone to go home empty handed, one goody bag per child is left with the venue including a sticker, a story book and a carrot which can be used to play the main character when acting out the story or, as more commonly seen, chomped down on during their walk home from nursery!
Food for thought.
Ella’s Kitchen have been busy researching the effect of sensory play on young people’s eating habits. We all know, however, that the proof of the (summer) pudding is in the eating! We have had tremendous feedback from nurseries and parents alike commending the initiative and its delivery.
We work in a team of hand-picked professionals so workshops are completely inclusive for all children and sessions can be tailored to the needs of individual groups. Most rewarding of all, many who were thought of as “fussy eaters” astonish those that know them by trying the most during the optional tasting session. It just goes to highlight the power of play!
