Food Explorers Card Game
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Food Explorers Card Game ☆
Easy, affordable, feeding therapy packaged into a fun game for kids!
How It Works
The Food Explorers Card Game uses a variety of evidence-based feeding therapy approaches, packaged into a fun game!
The vision for the game was to achieve a few main goals:
Make feeding therapy strategies affordable and accessible to families at home
Provide a resource adults can use to support their picky eaters that doesn’t rely on them having to learn a huge amount of information in order to be effective (basically - it has to be easy!)
Appeal to kids and be inherently motivating so they can take some ownership over their eating and feeding journey (basically - it has to be fun!)
We’ve taken all the thinking out of the equation, so as the adult all you have to do is grab the game and go! Below we explain how to use it for best results, and the evidence behind the game.
Good luck, intrepid food explorers :)
Mythbusters
Basically - all the common advice for feeding difficulties is kind of… bad?! I’m so sorry to be the one to have to tell you!
Feeding therapy as a field is fairly new and the more research we do the more we can recognise that the common advice is actually directly contra-indicated by the evidence, which means it’s almost the exact opposite of what is scientifically proven to work.
The Food Explorers Card Game is built upon many of the foundational, evidence-based approaches to feeding therapy.
Feeding is complex, and this game is not a quick fix and it won’t work for every food explorer or picky eater, but it will work for many! And it is an effective preventative measure which will foster a supportive relationship with trying new foods so you and your food explorer can skip the picky eating stage all together!
But you shouldn’t play with your food ???
Contrary to popular belief, playing with food is one of the most effective ways to build feeding skills. The evidence for this is explained in more detail below.
Playing with food goes against cultural norms, and we want to recognise for some families this may be a reason that the Food Explorers Card Game isn’t the right fit for them. However, if you are open to the idea it is a gateway to make some meaningful change in the feeding dynamics of your family.
If you don’t give them a choice, they’ll eat eventually !!!
One of the key differences between developmental pickiness and what we may consider clinically significant picky eating, is that picky eaters would rather go on hunger strike than eat a non-preferred food. If you’re here, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
This isn’t because they’re naughty, stubborn, or obstinate. It’s because something in their body is telling them they cannot eat the food being offered. Considering humans are hard-wired to eat, think about how strong this competing message is to override the instinct to eat!
How To Play and FAQs
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The game is designed to be a total jumping off point and there’s so many different ways you can use it. The basics are that the 3 levels go from easiest to hardest based on the amount of contact being made with the food. Allow your food explorer to take the lead and pick which level of challenge they’re feeling ready for :)
There’s lots of ways to use the Food Explorers Card Game but here’s a few ideas:
Initially use the card game outside of mealtimes. This can often allow the adults in the situation to release some of the worry and anxiety that crops up during mealtimes as this time isn’t for eating or consuming food, but just for food exploring! When you’re familiar with the game you can integrate it into mealtimes if you like
If your food explorer is hesitant you can make them The Boss and they can dish out challenges for you to use with different foods (this will still help them as it’s building positive associations with interacting with new foods)
You can track and jot down your progress with different foods if you like. Ensure you as the adult are included in this! Revisit foods you’ve done before and see if you and your food explorer can beat your last level :)
When you do your grocery shop you can task your food explorer with the job of picking their next food! This is a really fun way to get them involved and facilitate autonomy
You can also do a “food off” where you and your food explorer each select a food to both do challenges with
You can use the game with solo ingredients or meals that have multiple ingredients. For reserved food explorers single ingredient foods may be more approachable so start there
You can use the sensory cards (yellow) to talk about the sensory profiles of foods your explorer already likes and then try to find a challenge food that is similar in one sensory profile or another (e.g. if they like crunchy foods like chips, you could try pretzels as a challenge food)
You can have your food explorer do the challenges with foods they already accept to build confidence if they’re hesitant to play with unfamiliar foods. You could bring along a toy and play a scenario where they’re nervous of the food and your food explorer can help them through the levels!
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The reason for this is explained more in depth below, but the long and short of it is that applying pressure to picky eaters only gets us more push back. So when playing the Food Explorers Card Game please do your very best to play in a pressure free way. This looks like following your child’s lead and letting them select the level of challenge they want to try. I recommend letting them pick the food to do the challenges with too (they might surprise you with what they want to explore!). Accept their first “no” if they tell you they don’t want to do one. As the adult you can do it on their behalf and report back. This still supports their exposure and experience with the food without it becoming a pressured engagement.
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Picky eaters are clever! This isn’t their first rodeo. Sometimes as adults we are so excited to see a sign of progress we cheer, or praise or celebrate so they know we’re excited for them. The challenge is this is often internalised as pressure (ugh, not pressure again!). Picky eaters know that if eating = celebration, then when they next have to say no to eating a food in future it means it’s a disappointment for those they care most about. They aren’t trying to let you down on purpose but something in their body is saying a strong NO to the food. For this reason we want to try to keep praise and celebrations minimal, but as always you can follow your child’s lead. If they’re super proud of themselves you can absolutely join in. My top tip would be to try to keep praise effort based and honour their own accomplishments rather than praising that they engaged with or ate a certain food e.g. “woah you were nervous to do an orange card but you really pushed yourself! How do you feel?” or “aw I can see you’re feeling so proud! I’m proud of you for doing something new!”.
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Many food explorers have co-occurring disabilities or are neurodivergent. As a speech-language and feeding therapist these kinds of kiddos are my bread and butter! We’ve designed the cards so that they can be used with a wide range of people across all abilities. On each card we’ve included visuals to support the understanding of those who may struggle with verbal comprehension, and we’ve used colour-coding on the levels and types of cards for the same reason. You know your food explorer best! If you feel they would be able to understand the game then go for it! If you’re not sure, have a read of our recommendations and see if any of these tips and tricks help out:
Modelling! If you’re food explorer may struggle to understand what’s going on, or become overwhelmed by engaging in the challenges themself, then you can take the lead and model doing the challenges. Invite your food explorer to join in, or allow them to just watch. You can discuss the challenge with them as they watch using their preferred communication system (AAC, sign, visuals, etc.)
Use existing strategies. If your food explorer has sensory processing difficulties or is prone to overwhelm from certain sensations, strategically select which challenges and target foods you feel will be right for them e.g. if sensitive to smell select foods with little to no odour. You may benefit from having a sensory warm-up and cool down wrapped around the activity you’re trying
Use communication devices to facilitate understanding. If you’re food explorer uses an AAC device, you can select a challenge and then communicate it to them by using their device to support their understanding if need be. Simplify the language used, and go slow and steady
Allow for an exit plan. Make sure your food explorer knows that they can stop and step away at any time. This may be a visual card that they use to say “break” or “stop” or it could be verbal, or AAC. Whatever it is ensure they have a way out so they can prioritise staying regulated
Observe for signs of dysregulation. If you begin a challenge and you can see your food explorer becoming heightened or dysregulated, take a break and utilise their known regulating strategies to help them come back down
Have a flannel or cloth available if they’re doing any touching so they can quickly wipe down their hands. This may support them in being willing to try a new challenge as they know if the textural sensation is too much they can get back to baseline
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For those who don’t know Dysphagia is a structural, anatomical or neurological difficulty with the process of eating or swallowing.
The Food Explorers Card Game can be used for people with dysphagia as long as it’s considered alongside their nutritional intake plan and adapted appropriately for their safety. For example, there are many benefits for tube fed kiddos to remain engaged with foods so that in future if they wean off the tube they already have a level of familiarity and safety with oral intake foods. However, this means the game will likely be played in a modified way to ensure no oral-consumption if it is not safe for them to do so.
Consult with your food explorer’s feeding team to ensure that using this is done in a safe way respecting the advice and guidance of the experts who know your child best :)
For the evidence geeks like us, here’s the lowdown on why the card game works so well - broken into easy to understand explanations :)
The Evidence - Why Does It Work?
DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY
Division of Responsibility is the work belonging to Ellyn Satter. We have included a link at the bottom if you would like to read more :)
Her work outlines that once a child moves out of infancy and into feeding (from solids onwards) the roles during feeding are as follows:
The adult is responsible for:
What food is offered (as long as there is at least one food you know your child will accept)
When food is offered
Where food is offered
The child is responsible for:
How much they eat
Whether they eat
For families who are feeding a picky eater these roles often get confused. Families often say “if we don’t make them eat they won’t eat anything”. And trust me - we get it! However, when these roles are confused and the child does not have autonomy within the eating dynamic, we actually see more push back. We get stuck in what’s known as The Worry Cycle (also coined by Ellyn Satter).
To break from this cycle we need to create space for the child to reclaim their autonomy in a way that feels good for them.
The Food Explorers Card Game creates a space for this by providing different levels of cards which correspond to differing levels of interaction with foods. This means there will likely be a level suitable for everyone!
As outlined in the “how to” guide, by using this tool in a pressure free way, following your child’s lead, respecting their “no”s, and modelling how to do the harder levels by doing them yourself, you can support your child to make progress (finally)! This works by cultivating a sense of autonomy alongside curiosity, safety, and confidence within your child’s relationship with food which will ultimately support their eating in the long run!
Ellyn Satter’s website has a lot of great information if you want to check it out, and learn more about how to implement Division of Responsibility in your mealtimes as well :)
https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/the-division-of-responsibility-in-feeding/
SENSORY EXPOSURES
Many different feeding therapy programs use a sensory exposure approach. In its simplest form here’s what it is and why it works.
Feeding is complicated! It involves every single one of our body systems, and has a huge sensory component. We often over-simplify feeding and think we either eat or don’t eat something, however there’s actually 24 small steps in between tolerating a food in the same room as us, and eating and swallowing a bite.
Just like anything else, the easiest way to build competence is through slowly working our way up the ladder. For example, when we learn to ride a bike we need to know how to walk first so we’re familiar with using our legs to propel us, then we need appropriate balancing skills. We might start by using training wheels until we build up our skills, and then we’ll ride on the grass so that if we fall we don’t get too hurt. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but I assume we all know what would happen if you put a baby on a bike with no supports!
Eating is very similar. Although we might think that once you physically know how to eat, adding in new foods shouldn’t be too difficult, the sensory experience of every new food is completely unfamiliar. Our brain is also very bad at identifying what’s safe vs what’s unsafe. The brain uses familiarity as a metric for safety. So an unfamiliar food will likely be seen as a potential threat and something to be cautious of, where familiar foods are already known and marked as safe.
One of the challenging things about picky eaters is that their brains are still under construction and they don’t have the pre-frontal cortex we do which allows for reasoning. This means no amount of logic or reassurance that “you’ll like this food I promise” will make a difference. What we need to do is use a sensory exposure approach to slowly build familiarity so the brain doesn’t feel threatened by new foods any more.
To slowly build familiarity and skills with new foods, we can break down the sensory experience of engaging with unfamiliar foods into smaller chunks. The Food Explorers Card Game does this by using levels:
Easy - little to no physical contact with an unfamiliar food. Instead using utensils or toys to make contact from a distance, and engaging with the food using sight as our main sense. This is non-threatening whilst also building familiarity
Medium - some physical touching of the new foods using our hands. This allows us to build familiarity with the feel of new foods without having to be too confronted by it coming close to our face
Hard - this level focuses on getting the food near and in the mouth. For picky eaters this level of security with a new food is only achieved after becoming familiar with it through exposures at easier levels
By gradually progressing through the levels we help our food explorers to not only grow their confidence and competence with each individual food, but to begin a pattern of recognition within the brain that new foods are safe to engage with. Once momentum builds in this direction it can make a huge difference!
PYSCHO-SOCIAL
FEEDING DYNAMICS
Feeding doesn’t exist within a vacuum. Like anything relating to child development, the jumping off point is a warm relationship between the child and their trusted adults. This dynamic can be all topsy turvy when we’re doing our best to feed a picky eater, and mealtimes become anxiety inducing for the whole family. In order to make progress we need to re-write this script.
The Tone of Mealtimes
When we have a picky eater, it can be distressing, overwhelming and anxiety inducing to be the person trying to keep them fed so they can thrive. These emotions sit within the adult, but often trickle down to the child. When the brain feels anxious it looks for reasons to validate this feeling and often this means that children accidentally learn that mealtimes are a time to be wary and on high alert. Not exactly conducive to us making progress! When I work with families in direct feeding therapy this is one of the hardest things to shift because how do you get out of this habit?! Much like in therapeutic interventions, sometimes the best way to shake an old habit is to replace it with a new, desired, habit. Enter… playfulness! When we use playfulness as a strategy it creates some natural distance from that presentation of stress and worry. However, the mental load of consciously trying to think of how to be creative and imaginative can feel like another burden. This is why the Food Explorers Card Game is so useful. We’ve done all the thinking! You’re challenge is to shake off the worry, and enjoy some intentionally playful interactions with your food explorer.
The Parent-Child Dynamic
When you’re always playing bad cop trying to facilitate your child’s eating, you lose the opportunity to be united and on the same team. These moments are critical for the relationship between a caregiver and a child. By using the Food Explorers Card Game not only do you get an opportunity to support their feeding progress, but you get intentionally playful time where you’re on the same team. This is incredibly important for how the whole family feels.
Pressure Free
When picky eaters sense that there is pressure on them to eat, they will respond with further push back. Much like the above point though, it’s an awful thing to try and tell a parent to remove pressure when what I get told in response is that it feels like it’s the only thing you can do to ensure your child eats (there are other options of course, but now isn’t the time for that!).
By carving out time to engage with food in an intentionally playful way when using the Food Explorers Card Game, parents find it easier to not worry about pressuring their child to eat as the purpose is simply exposures and experience, as opposed to consuming.
Positive Interactions With Food
Most picky eaters largely experience food in negative contexts: being presented it to eat and having to say no or becoming dysregulated. Over time this creates an emotional pattern which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As mentioned above, we can’t use logic to re-wire this dynamic, but we can use brute force (kind of). By creating opportunities for positive emotional experience with food we can, over time, tip the scales and restore the way our food explorers relate to food emotionally. The Food Explorers Card Game provides the scaffolding to do exactly that :)
Buy Now
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Buy Now ☆
Say Goodbye To Picky Eating For Good!
