Fun and Healthy Foods Your Toddler Will Love

It's not uncommon or surprising that toddlers who once ate everything put before them sometimes begin turning their noses up to certain foods. Once they begin to realize there are many choices, discriminating toddlers choose not to eat foods such as vegetables, fruits, meat, and other healthy selections.

It's easy for well-meaning grandparents and others to offer advice, but it's mom and dad that ultimately have to deal with finicky eaters. Demanding that toddlers eat the foods placed before them doesn't always work. Having an eat it or else policy only creates lots of tears and stress at mealtime. There are much better ways to encourage finicky toddlers to eat foods they otherwise might not even consider tasting.

Edible Shapes

Toddlers love to learn about shapes, and what better way to get your toddler to eat foods they otherwise might not eat than to cut them into fun shapes? Try using a cookie cutter to cut protein-rich peanut butter sandwiches into stars, flowers, trucks, or anything else your finicky toddler would enjoy. Insert a few thinly sliced bananas for a healthy snack or light meal your toddler is sure to love.

Consider cutting pieces of cheese into fun and interesting shapes. Creatively cut slices of cheese with cookie cutters, and add them to sandwiches, crackers, or serve them along side the main course. This is a fun way to provide a toddler with some of the calcium their growing body requires.

Fun With Food

Parents generally discourage kids from playing with their food, but a finicky toddler can learn a lot while playing with tasty treats they might otherwise avoid. Foods such as dried fruits, or vegetables such as peas, corn, and carrot cubes can be lined up and counted. They can also be used as part of a fun learning game.

Simply line up healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, and cubes of meat, and help your toddler count the pieces, or help your toddler create a fun design. Making the pieces disappear is the exciting part. Your toddler will eat a healthy serving of food he or she might otherwise never have tasted while playing a fun learning game with food.

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