- fruits and vegetables
Taste Test
Your child will discover more when she is using all of her senses. Together explore how food tastes (a sour lemon), feels (sticky syrup), smells (a fresh orange), and sounds (a crunchy pepper).
Make your child a "taste tester" when you are preparing a meal. She may not have the words to describe what she is tasting, so you may need to help her by introducing her to describing words, for example,
- A red apple has a bright, bold color.
- It has a smooth skin.
- It is sweet, crunchy, cold, and juicy when you bite into it.
As you prepare fruits or vegetables for lunch or dinner, cut an extra slice of each for your child to taste. Name the food or have her name it.
- Together explore and describe how the food smells, feels, and looks.
- Talk about foods that can taste sour, sweet, salty, or bitter.
- Now it's time to taste! Join in the taste testing and see if you agree on which foods are sour, sweet, salty, or bitter. Your child may be more sensitive to new foods, so don’t be surprised if she thinks something tastes much more sour (or salty, or bitter, or sweet) than you do.
People also prefer different flavors and textures of food. This can be a good time to talk about how people are different from one another.