The toddler finger food tray is a simple technique to get toddlers to try new foods.
It’s a really great way to make meal times fun for your toddler (especially picky eaters) and an easy way to introduce new foods – because who doesn’t want to eat a rainbow?!
Which tray to use?
To create a finger food tray, you can use just about anything you have in your kitchen that has small compartments. Mini muffin trays and ice-cube trays work really well.
Remember that toddlers only have little tummies, so large portions can overwhelm them.
Red, green and orange
You can pretty much put whatever you have in the fridge or pantry in the tray. You could even do all the same colour, so do a red tray then the following day an orange tray … just have fun with it!
In the tray at the top of the article we’ve included grated cheese, strawberries, sugar snap peas, sultanas, blueberries, mandarin, broccoli, capsicum, watermelon, frozen mango, orange and cucumber.
A little trick
Try to fill most of the tray with foods you know they will eat, then sneak in a couple of new ones.
Another great trick is to include those little people in the food choice. If they’ve picked them, they’re more likely to eat them. Let them fill the tray too … yes we know it’s a messy business, but toddlers LOVE to get involved.
Orange you glad you ate me?!
Orange foods are just a little bit awesome. Not only do these luscious fruits and veges taste amazeballs, but they boost little bodies in all sorts of ways, thanks to the zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, vitamin C and vitamin A. Here’s why orange foods are the bomb:
They help eye health (remember to tell the kids carrots help you see in the dark!)
Promote healthy joints
Fight free radicals in the body
Helps balance the pH in the body
Boosts the immune system
Builds healthier bones
Red is rad!
Red foods rock our world, they are gems from Mother Nature and kids just can’t get enough. And that’s a good thing, because they containe lycopene, ellagic acid, quercetin, hesperidin, fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. And that means they help with:
Protecting the body from harmful free-radicals
Protecting against heart disease
Lowering blood pressure
Keeping you regular
Green means go!
It may not be easy being green, but it’s really easy to boost the kids’ green food intake. Getting more green in their diet means adding chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C and beta-carotene into their little bodies. And this all helps to:
Reduce the risk of cancer
Reduce cholesterol levels
Keep you regular
Support eye health
Boost the immune system
Keep kids healthy
There’s never been a better reason to eat the rainbow!
Kids Eat by Shanai
Mum of two beautiful kids, Shanai is a whizz at whipping up fun, fabulously tasty and quick-as-a-flash meals for babies, toddlers and young kids, with a flair for pleasing fussy eaters.
