Food play doesn't have to happen at home. The grocery shop is one of the easiest, lowest-effort places to build a child's comfort with food, because the food is already right there in front of them, and there's no expectation to eat any of it.
- Let them choose one thing. Hand your child the job of picking one fruit or vegetable for the trolley each week, including ones you don't normally buy. Choosing counts as engagement, even if it never gets eaten.
- Go on a colour hunt. Ask them to find something red, then something green, then something they've never seen before. It turns the produce aisle into a low-key scavenger hunt.
- Let them hold and smell. A quick sniff of a mango, a squeeze of an avocado to check if it's ripe, a look at a spiky dragon fruit, all of it is food play, and none of it costs you anything extra.
- Talk about where food comes from. "This grows on a tree," "this grows underground," these small facts build curiosity, and curiosity is often the first step before a food ever makes it to the plate.
- Let them unpack the shopping. Handling every item as it comes out of the bag, even foods they refuse to eat, is still valuable, low-pressure contact.
Dietitian note: none of this requires buying more food than usual or wasting anything. It's about using food you were already going to buy, in a moment you were already going to spend at the shops, slightly differently.
Once you're home, our free printable Food Bingo cards are a fun way to keep exploring whatever made it into the trolley.