6 Tips To Try New Foods for Kids with Special Needs

Posted on July 28, 2023July 15, 2023

6 Tips to Try New Foods for Kids with Special Needs

Trying new foods can be a challenging task, especially when working to try new foods for kids with special needs. When working to make healthy changes, sometimes kids need to try new foods in order to make better choices for their health! As summertime is here, it’s a great time to begin working to try new foods for special needs. We have compiled a list of tips and activities to help make this a fun experience for the whole family.

Friday Try-Day

Trying new foods can take time to develop taste preferences and become used to new foods, especially if it is not a rhythm in place for the family. One practice can be a “Friday Try-day” where each week on Friday (or any other day!) your family knows that there will be new food to try to create new patterns to try new foods for kids with special needs. This could be a new vegetable, new protein food, or simply a new dinner recipe that has not yet been tried before. In fact, some kids may need to try foods up to 15 times in order to develop a taste for it! Although your kids do not have to like these foods they try, the key is to at least help them to be comfortable enough to try the food. One way to have the best success with this may be to offer this food first before the rest of the meal when your child is the most hungry and willing to try new food. This rhythm and expected pattern can help increase exposure to new foods and help parents remember to try new foods for kids with special needs.

Kid Chef

Kids love to be a part of any activity! Think of how often toddlers imitate mom or dad when they are younger, talking on the phone or playing pretend with a lawnmower toy or baby doll. As kids continue to grow up, they enjoy to learn new things and take on new responsibility! One way to help kids try new foods is to have them be involved in the process of what foods they will try. This can look like kids going to the grocery store and picking out a new vegetable, helping to prepare a new healthy dish, stirring a salad or sauce to go with dinner, or helping to set the menu with mom or dad! Working to give opportunities to try new foods can help you to try new foods for kids with special needs and give kids a fun new activity for the summertime!

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6 Tips To Try New Foods for Kids with Special Needs

6 Tips to Try New Foods for Kids with Special Needs

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