Board Games With Food Part 1: Game Pieces

Older children often get more excited to play a game with rules than to pretend with food and there are lots of fun ways to incorporate food into board games!Using food as game-pieces gives picky eaters opportunities to touch and learn about foods. Have some pre-cut foods ready to pick from or do a deconstruct activity together to make game pieces (ex: take apart a tangerine or cut up a banana). Pick your pieces and you're ready to play.So many games are fun to play with food as the pieces! Play Checkers(above); turn the cherries in Hi-Ho Cherry-O into real food pieces or use food pieces as game pieces for favorite games like Candyland.What other games do you and your child love that would be fun to play with food?Language and Senses: Talk about how the food looks and feels while you're playing. What shapes are the food pieces? What colors are they? Are they dry to the touch, sticky or wet? Give your picky eater the words to confidently talk about the foods you're using as they touch them to play the game.Also, remember, everyone likes to win at games, winning could be the icing on the cake that makes a picky eater want to play again!Comment and share what games and foods you and your child try. There are infinite fun possibilities!Enjoy, happy food play!