20 ways to make food fun for a picky eater

Having a picky eater can suck the joy out of mealtimes for everyone. This works against us in many ways:

- We are not enjoying our food and so our fussy eater is not seeing us eating with joy, an important role modelling experience.

- Our child is not looking forward to food or eating and is therefore less likely to eat well.

- Mealtimes can become a trial rather than a pleasure.

Putting the fun and the joy back into eating is a big part of my focus as a picky eating advisor. The good news is that there are many ways we can do this. I’ve come up with 20 of my favourites, but feel free to suggest any others you can think of.

20 ways we can make food fun

Before we dive into these though, a word of caution. The focus is on the fun, not the eating. The more relaxed and more enjoyment our child feels around food the more likely they are to eat. However, if they feel that we are doing something ‘fun’ in order to trick them into eating it, they will know, and it could backfire.

Serving food in new ways or engaging our child will be helpful for a picky eater, but not necessarily in the ‘do this so you can eat it’ sort of a way. The more selective and food anxious a child, the more positive experiences around…