The Kid Food Explorers Blog
Everything you need to embark on a fun food exploration adventure with your kids! From kid-friendly recipes and activities to helpful parent tips and resources, you’ll find it here.
Why School Cafeteria Anxiety Isn’t Really About the Food
Picture the room your kid is about to walk into. Three hundred people. Hard floors, hard walls, and a sound that bounces right back at them. Twenty-two minutes on the clock. Somewhere in there is a tray, a table with seating rules nobody explained, and a container...
Food Refusal, Reframed: What’s Really Going On When Kids Won’t Try New Foods
Let me start with the thing I wish more parents knew. When a kid won't try new foods, they aren't misbehaving. They're not being defiant. They're not manipulating you. They're not doing the one thing you asked them not to just to watch you lose it before 7am. I know...
Should You Sneak Vegetables Into Your Kid’s Food? A Dietitian’s Honest Take
I've got a confession that might raise a dietitian eyebrow or two: I don't sneak vegetables into my kids' food. No cauliflower smuggled into the mac and cheese. No spinach hiding in the brownies. No beets blitzed into the pasta sauce so nobody's the wiser. And I'm a...
How to Talk to Kids About Healthy and Unhealthy Food (Without the Guilt)
My daughter came home from school last fall and announced, with total certainty, that French fries are bad and she shouldn't eat them. Which was news to me, because we eat fries in our house pretty regularly. They're one of her favorite foods. But somewhere between...
Want Your Kid to Try New Foods? Stop Pushing.
Here's something I've watched play out a hundred times, in my own kitchen and with the families I work with: the harder you push a kid to eat something, the harder they dig in. You cut the strawberries into little hearts. You do the airplane. You bargain, you promise...
Playful Ways to Introduce New Foods to Kids (Using All Five Senses)
You set the plate down. Something new is on it. Maybe it's roasted cauliflower, maybe it's a slice of mango, maybe it's just a bell pepper your kiddo has decided is suspicious today. They eye it, lean back, push it toward the edge of the plate like it's contagious....
Forget “Just Try One Bite.” Here’s a Better Way to Raise Adventurous Eaters
If you've ever watched your kid push a new food to the edge of their plate like it has personally wronged them, you know the feeling. You want to expand their world, you want mealtimes to feel a little lighter — maybe even fun. But somewhere between "please just taste...
How to Teach Hunger and Fullness Cues to Kids (Without a Single Word of Diet Talk)
It's 6:15 pm. Dinner is on the table, your kid has taken three bites, and they're already announcing they're done. You're not sure if they're actually full or just trying to escape to the couch. Then fifteen minutes later, they're asking for a snack. Sound familiar?...
How to Talk to Kids About “Healthy” and “Unhealthy” Food Without Creating Food Fear
One day it happens. Your child points at a cookie, a snack, or something on their own plate and says, “That’s unhealthy.” Maybe they heard it at school, from a friend, from a video, or from a well-meaning relative. Suddenly you’re standing there wondering what the...
My Child Refuses to Try New Foods. What Should I Do?
You plan the meal. You slice the fruit the “right” way. You even add that one safe food you know they usually eat. And then your child refuses to try the new foods. Or even the foods they used to eat. Or maybe the same exact pasta you made last week. It can leave you...
End Mealtime Battles for Good by Embracing Food Positivity
If dinner at your house feels tense, you’re not failing. You’re parenting in a world that’s made food wildly complicated. One kid wants plain pasta. One refuses the “green stuff.” You’re standing at the counter wondering if you said the wrong thing about sugar,...
How to Help Your Kids Grow More Confident Around Food in the New Year
The new year has this refreshing feel to it. The hustle slows down. The cookies get eaten. The routines start to settle again. Families begin asking bigger questions about how they want life to feel moving forward. If food has felt stressful or confusing or downright...
Raising Kids Who Feel in Control Around Sugar
The moment sugar enters the chat, most parents feel that little jolt of panic. You want your kid to enjoy treats without obsessing over them. You want balance, not battles. But you also grew up in a world that labeled sugar as dangerous, addictive, or something you...
2025 Holiday Gift Guide for Food Explorers
The holidays always sneak up fast, and if you’re raising a curious eater (or hoping to), you’re probably on the hunt for gifts that bring more joy to your table and less stress to your days. I get it. Mealtime can feel like a coin toss. Some nights feel magical. Some...
How to Navigate Common Food Challenges With Kids During the Holidays
The holidays bring plenty of excitement, but they also stir up a lot of emotions for families. When you’re facing holiday food challenges with kids, everything feels a little more intense. You’re trying to track gifts and schedules while walking into homes that...
10 Fun & Creative Ways to Encourage Your Kids to Try New Foods
Does dinnertime feel like a daily battle to get your kids to try new foods? You’re not alone. Picky eating is actually a really common occurrence among kids. Even though it can be frustrating as a parent, rest assured it’s a normal part of child development, often...
How to Get Your Kids to Try New Foods in 2023
Feeding kids is hard. I don’t know a single person who thinks it’s easy. One of the biggest challenges I hear from parents is that they struggle to get their kiddos to try new foods and I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret. Even as a pediatric dietitian, we...
Get your kids excited about trying new foods by inviting them to explore with their 5 senses!
Embark on endless mealtime adventures and discoveries with our FREE My 5 Senses Worksheet.