Learning During Meals and Snacks

Meals and snacks can be very motivating times for little ones to learn, especially when the things they are eating are things they like! For the following activities I would suggest using preferred snacks which will increase your child’s motivation.

How many times have your kids asked you for a snack in the past week? I’m pretty sure mine have asked 7,367 times. Per day. And this doesn’t count the number of times my younger daughter has snuck to the pantry and tried to steal something. Yes, I feed my kids. Yes, I give them snacks. No they are not starving. But like most other kids in the world, my kids are are hungry all the time. All. The. Time.

Snacks and meals are a SUPER time to work on skills with your learner. My favorite things to work on during snacks and meals are requesting and self help motor skills. Eatings times can also be wonderful social opportunities. Here are some simple ideas to make the most out of your 2,387 snack times in the upcoming weeks and months at home.

Requesting: Limit access to snacks by putting them in high cabinets, containers or in different areas of your home the child cannot access independently. This will give them an option to ask you for help. Give your child small portions of a snack at a time. If you give her a large bowl of crackers and she eats them all quietly, this limits the number of opportunities you could provide for her to practice a new skill. Start with a couple of crackers and then hold out the box to see if she will ask for more. If your child is non-verbal, you can practice pointing, using eye gaze (observing what your child looks at and giving him that item), signing or even making a simple vocalization to indicate what he wants. For a child who is verbal, have them work at their level by saying the word of the item, using a short phrase, or giving you a sentence paired with eye contact. Don’t be afraid to push your child slightly past their current level, but be flexible to avoid frustration. Try as best you can to follow through. If you know your child can say “goldfish” and you ask him to do so, hold back on giving the cracker until he says the word. Children can also request other materials or support they need in order to eat their snack or meal. For example, if you child wants yogurt, you can hand them the container without taking the lid off. This provides an opportunity for your child to ask for help opening (or it could provide a motor opportunity for them to try to open it themselves!). Additionally, you can withhold silverware, dishes, milk for cereal, etc.. Try to think about the different components that are involved with the snack or meal and brainstorm different ways you can provide opportunities for communication.

Self-help and motor skills: Meals and snacks are a great time to practice self-help skills. Always have your child wash hands before sitting down to eat. Now, more than ever, is a time to work on hand washing. Independent hand washing is one of the more important self-help skills your child can learn. Make the experience fun by singing songs while washing. Kids are notorious for being poor hand washers, so be sure you go back and “check their work". Giving snacks that need silverware, such as oatmeal, yogurt or applesauce are good for working on coordination with feeding. Things like bananas and toast can also be cut up into pieces to practice fork skills. If your child is new to the skill of silverware, you can use hand over hand support initially and then gradually fade your support. There is a more detailed lesson on prompts and prompt fading in the behavioral blog section. This lesson may be helpful! Other skills that can be worked on are setting the table before meal or snack, using napkins, cleaning up the area after meal or snack (putting things in the trash, sink or dishwasher, wiping up spills and cleaning the counter), and changing clothes if your child gets messy (at my house usually more yogurt ends up on the shirt than in the mouth). It is also great for kids to practice opening (and closing) their own containers, opening lunch boxes, scooping out servings of their own food and using hand wipes. In my daughter’s lunch box I always have individually wrapped wipes and we work on the skill of opening them and using one to wipe her hands so that she can be independent with this skill while she is at school.

Social Skills: During meals and snacks there are so many social skills you can work on! Kids can practice passing items to others, monitoring their portions so everyone can get enough of a family style snack or meal item, talking about their food or their day and responding to others during meal times. Self awareness of being messy (I don’t know about you but my daughter CONSTANTLY has food on her face and is very unaware of it), keeping one’s area clean and tidy and being polite during meals are also super targets during meal times. As a side note, we decided early on in our family that participating in the social aspect of eating was more important to us than working on flexibility of accepting new foods. This has yielded an extremely limited diet for my child, but we relish is the calm social time we usually have during meals. Mealtimes can also be great opportunities to work on flexibility and trying new foods as well, but just note that depending on your child, this could be a challenge and could yield some behaviors (more information and support on this topic to come!).

If you need other ideas for how to practice skills with your child during meals, feel free to email me!