OT-Approved Food Play Ideas to Build Key Developmental Skills

By Kayla Kim, MOTR/L (Occupational Therapist and Paediatric Feeding Specialist)

Key Takeaways:

• Food play supports developmental skills in a fun, low-pressure way.
• Different foods offer opportunities to practise fine motor, oral motor, bilateral coordination, and sensory skills.
• Food play can be simple and still be meaningful.
• Choose activities based on your child’s developmental stage and abilities.

How Food Play Supports Your Child’s Development

Food play helps children build important developmental skills in a fun, low-pressure way. Exploring food naturally supports skills like fine motor, oral motor, bilateral coordination, and sensory processing.

Food play is not about getting a child to eat. It’s about giving them age-appropriate opportunities to explore. Follow their lead, model and encourage, and never pressure or force participation or eating.

Safety note: Food play should always be fun and safe! Closely supervise your child and keep them seated in an appropriate highchair or booster seat. Choose and prepare foods based on their developmental stage and eating skills. For guidance, check out Health Canada or the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) guidelines on safe food preparation and preventing choking in young children.

Food Play for Pincer Grasp Development

The pincer grasp is when your child uses their thumb and index finger to pick up small objects, typically emerging around 9-12 months. Before then, babies often use a raking grasp with their whole hand. Food play can help build the skills needed to develop this grasp as they begin exploring solids.

The OT “why”: The activities below work on the developmental skills of hand-eye coordination, thumb to index finger coordination, fine motor precision (using the small muscles in the hand with more control), and fine motor strength. These skills will translate into everyday tasks like self-feeding, writing, and even getting dressed!

Activity 1: Pick-Up and Play!

Age: 6+ months

Collect 3-5 foods and food-related objects. Once your child is seated, place one object at a time onto their tray. When they pick it up, allow them to explore it with their hands and mouth! Give your baby plenty of time to explore the object before moving on to the next.

Level 1: For younger babies still working on their raking grasp coordination, place larger, easy to “rake” objects or food on your baby’s tray.

Object/Food examples:

• Flat baby spoon or stick-shaped silicone teether
• Pineapple Core*
• Ripe finger length strip of banana
• Little Bellies Apple Cinnamon Puffs

*A pineapple core is an example of a “chew and explore” food, explained in more detail within the “Food Play for Oral Motor Strength and Chewing” section below. Always supervise closely and ensure your baby cannot bite off small pieces.

Level 2: For older babies with an emerging pincer grasp, place one piece of food in a suction bowl on their tray. Encourage your child to use their fingers to pick it up and move it to a second bowl. Gentle help is okay –  and if they eat the snack instead, that’s okay too!

Food examples:

• Organic Sweet Cinnamon Softcorn
• Cooked sweet potato cube
• Soft blueberry

Activity 2: Snack Sorter

Age: 12+ months

For toddlers with a more established pincer grasp, hand them a “spill proof” snack container to reach into with food items inside. Sort each food item by grouping the same items together (ex. colour, shape, or texture) as your child pulls them out.

Food examples:

• Little Bellies Organic Blueberry & Banana Nibbles
• Raspberries
• Peas

Food Play for Oral Motor Strength and Chewing Skills:

Oral motor skills involve how the lips, tongue, cheeks, and jaw work together for eating and drinking. Babies aren’t born knowing how to chew – they develop these skills through repeated practice with developmentally appropriate opportunities, which is supported through food play!

The OT “why”: The activities below support your child’s jaw movement and strength, tongue movements, and ability to manage different textures of foods. As babies mouth, gum, bite, and manipulate food, they are getting valuable practice with the movements involved in developing chewing skills.

Activity 1: Chew and Explore

Age: 6-9 months

For babies still developing chewing skills, certain foods are “chew and explore” opportunities rather than foods they’re expected to swallow. Let your baby safely explore one food at a time with their mouth, gums, tongue, and jaw while closely supervised.

Foods to offer:

• Mango Pit
• Pineapple Core
• Corn on the cob

Activity 2: Animal Bites

Age: 12+ months

Have 3-5 snack options nearby and 3-5 animal examples. Model for your child by saying “Watch me chew like a lion!”. Then take a dramatic bite and exaggerate chewing on the food. Follow your child’s pace and make your way through the list of snacks and animals.

Food examples:

• Little Bellies Veggie Tubes
• Apple Slice
• Cucumber spear
• Little Bellies Organic Banana Fruity Bars

Animal examples:

• Alligator, Lion, Shark: Tear off a bite with your teeth and exaggerate big chewing
• Rabbit, mouse: Use your front teeth to take small nibbles and chew quickly
• Cow, sloth: Take a slow bite and exaggerate using your jaw

Food Play for Bilateral Coordination:

Bilateral coordination means using both sides of the body together to complete a task. For example, holding a bowl in one hand while picking up food with the other.

The OT “why”: The activities below help to build coordination between both sides of the body with a focus on bilateral hand use, motor planning, and grasping and releasing. These skills will translate into everyday tasks like getting dressed, tying shoes, and using utensils!

Activity 1: Pull and Peel

Age: 6+ months

Prepare food items that can easily be pulled or peeled apart. Place one food item at a time on your child’s tray. Model or gently help peel/pull the food apart with both hands.

Food examples:

• Soft, cooked broccoli with stem
• Ripe banana
• Soft, cooked green beans

Activity 2: Hide and Snack!

Age: 12+ months

Place 1-2 pieces of food inside each cup of a muffin tin. Using square magnet tiles, stack tiles on top so they can’t see the food hidden inside. Once all cups are filled and covered, let your child remove the tiles using both hands to find the snacks!

Food examples:

• Little Bellies Organic Sweetcorn Round-a-bouts
• Freeze dried strawberries
• Cubed avocado
• Shredded cheese

Food Play for Sensory Tolerance and Picky Eating:

Some children are naturally drawn to messy sensory experiences, while others may be more hesitant or sensitive to certain textures, smells, temperatures, or sensations. We all have different sensory preferences and it’s completely normal to seek out some sensations and avoid others. Food play can support each child’s sensory preferences while giving them pressure-free ways to explore food.

The OT “why”: The activities below give children opportunities to become familiar with different sensory input at their own pace. The goal is to provide repeated, low-pressure opportunities to explore and build comfort over time. Children who enjoy tactile, messy play may also be more comfortable with unfamiliar foods.²

When to seek support: If your child consistently avoids interacting with certain foods by gagging or becoming distressed during exploration, you may want to consider talking with an occupational therapist. Especially if these responses continue despite providing repeated, low-pressure opportunities.

Activity 1: Yoghurt Paint and Play

Age: 6+ months

Level 1 – Sensory sensitive children: Spoon yoghurt into a large resealable freezer bag (or zip-top bag) and add pieces of fruit. Place the bag onto your child’s highchair tray and model touching it with your fingers. Add toy figurines to drive or walk on top for more fun!

(*Pro tip: tape the bag directly onto the highchair or booster seat tray)

Level 2 – Children ready for more mess: Spoon yoghurt and fruit pieces directly onto the tray! Your child can use their fingers if they’re ready to dive right in. But a Little Bellies Pick-Me Stick would make a great “paintbrush” for younger babies who may not be comfortable with messy fingers yet. For 12+ months, use Little Bellies Organic Gingerbread Cookies to “walk” through the yoghurt! Once again, add various toy figurines to drive or walk through the yoghurt for even more fun.

(*Pro-tip: Ready to clean-up? Grab a bowl of water for your child to “wash” the toys! Not only does it add sensory exposure, it also teaches them clean-up skills.)

Fruit examples:

• Banana slices
• Blackberries
• Kiwi slices

Toy examples*:

• Cars
• Farm animals
• People figurines

*Choose toys that are developmentally appropriate for your child as they may naturally end up in their mouth during play.

Activity 2: Animal Snack Hunt

Age: 9+ months

Fill a container with 2-3 foods. Add small spoons for scooping, and your child’s favourite animal figurines. Model feeding the animals while scooping through the snacks. You can also hide the animals and have your child try to find them!

Food examples:

• Little Bellies Carrot & Cinnamon Paws
• Freeze dried fruits (ex. Apples, strawberries)
• Graham crackers (blended into crumbs)

How to Choose the Right Food Play Activity for Your Child:

• If your child is working on reaching and grasping → choose food play for fine motor skills
• If your child is developing their chewing skills → choose food play for oral motor and chewing skills
• If your child struggles to use both hands together → choose bilateral coordination activities
• If your child avoids touching or interacting with foods → start with sensory food play

Whether your baby is learning to pick up their first finger foods or your toddler is becoming more comfortable with new textures, food play can turn everyday eating experiences into opportunities for learning. Positive interactions with food, repeated over time, can help children become more comfortable exploring different foods and create more opportunities for positive mealtime experiences. The best part? Your child is learning, exploring, and building confidence – all through play.

Check out the Play with Food Guide for even more tips and explore Little Bellies’ age-and-stage appropriate snacks for babies and toddlers – designed for hands-on exploration and skill-building play.

• What is food play?

  Food play for babies and toddlers  is play centered around food without the expectation to eat it.

• Can food play help with picky eating?

  Food play can help a child become more comfortable around food which can positively influence mealtime exploration; however, it isn’t a quick fix for picky eating. Reach out to a feeding therapist if you have concerns about your child’s eating.

• How can I use food play to develop my baby's pincer grasp?

  Food play can support the development of a pincer grasp by providing different shapes, sizes, and textures of food items.

• Is food play safe for babies?

  Food play is safe for babies when activities are developmentally appropriate, and children are seated and closely supervised.

**This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.