Edible Play
At Munchkin and me, we know that young children learn best when using their whole body and all their senses. They naturally learn from the world around them and as both a baby and a toddler your little one is a sensory sponge, soaking up everything they can from all the experiences and opportunities they are presented with.
While we want to encourage our toddler’s curiosity and desire to explore, any parent to a little person will know his also means being vigilant during their playtimes; as everything goes in their mouth!
It’s innocent enough, they just want to use their taste sense and the sensory receptors in their mouth to investigate. It’s great for them to be able to do that, and it provides lots of learning, but it isn’t always a safe option with all items and may lead you to avoid some play opportunities.
There are lots of ways to give your little ones some fantastic play experiences, such as these edible play ideas. These offer lots of sensory fun for weaned babies and toddlers.
Safety Tip: Please always ensure your child is fully supervised by a responsible adult at all times and be aware of potential allergies.
Munchkins love the zoo! The Zoo ‘Messy Play’ is a great substitute that is fun, and can be played with inside or out. All you need is a large plastic box, or a tray, which make great alternatives to “Tuff Trays” and some food items from your cupboard! (Please note: the blocks and toys in this image are not edible!)
We used;
Porridge Oats
Twiglets
Weetabix (or equivalent cereal of choice)
Semolina
Rice
Farleys Rusk
Anything that looks like the Zoo and fun!
Munchkins love Spaghetti Snakes (or even Wiggly Worms!). As well as being lots of messy fun, all of our story-linked activities are designed to support and encourage your Munchkin’s development. Our spaghetti play is wonderful for encouraging fine motor skills development. Our activities are adapted for the different developmental stages.
With our Mini Munchkins, grasping and raking skills are developed and for our Story-Explorers we may use props to help develop skills and encourage finer control such as pincer skills.
We used;
You might want to keep the spaghetti plain or you might want to make things a little more fun by dying it different colours (with a suitably safe food colouring). To do this you will need Zip-close freezer bags, cooking oil and food colouring.
Simply start by cooking some spaghetti
Once cooked and cooled put the spaghetti in the freezer bags, you need as many bags as colours you plan on using!
Add a few drops of colouring and cooling oil to each bag and mix it up. Close the bag and leave it sealed for at least an hour.
Open the bags and empty the coloured spaghetti into bowls and or boxes. You can mix all the colours up or keep them separate, its up to you .. let your imagination run wild!
Let your Munchkin explore the spaghetti however they would like, and add utensils or hide small toys amongst it to create different play experiences.
Have fun!
This activity its also great when your baby is getting older and becoming a pre-schooler. They still love sensory experiences and the spaghetti can be twisted into shapes, letters or numbers!!
Munchkins love Jelly Play - Jelly is a great texture for your Munchkin to explore, different colours, flavours and scents all add to their sensory experience!
Our Plum Pie Messy Play Tray
We used;
Make up a small amount of jelly and let it cool. If you want to, keep some of the cubes of jelly as they are too (for lumps!)
Put some jelly on a tray or messy mat and let your Munchkin make their own discoveries about what they can do with it.
Or shape the jelly into a cake/muffin shape
Porridge Oats or Rusks or Semlina
Chocolate button, or small piece of fruit (baby friendly and suitable for your smallest Munchkin)
