Food Sensory Play: 8 Summer Activities for Babies and Toddlers

Written by Lauren Remondino, SLP, Feeding Therapist & Advisor at Bébé Foodie

Summer has a way of slowing us down. The days are longer, snacks and meals can be outside, gardens begin to bloom, and farmers markets are overflowing with colorful fruits and vegetables. It's also one of the best seasons to help babies and toddlers develop a fun and healthy relationship with food, regardless of how much they are actually eating.

Touching, smelling, squishing, picking, washing, stirring, planting, and even simply looking at foods are all meaningful experiences that build the foundation for adventurous eating later on. Summer naturally provides endless opportunities for these experiences in a way that feels fun rather than forced.

Food sensory play is one of the easiest ways to encourage food exploration during the summer. Whether your child is touching, smelling, washing, picking, or helping prepare fresh produce, these playful experiences build familiarity with new foods long before the first bite. For babies and toddlers, food sensory play isn't about getting them to eat more—it's about helping them feel curious, confident, and comfortable around food.

Instead of making food feel like a chore this season, consider making it an adventure.

What is food sensory play, and why is it important for babies and toddlers?

Babies and toddlers aren't born knowing that strawberries are sweet or cucumbers are crunchy. Every food is completely new to them.

Before a child willingly eats a new food, they often need many opportunities to become familiar with it. Research consistently shows that repeated, positive exposures to foods increase acceptance over time. Exposure doesn't have to mean eating.

Food exploration begins long before the first bite

Food exploration might include:

• Looking at a food

• Touching it

• Smelling it

• Holding it

• Watching someone else eat it

• Playing with it

• Helping prepare it

• Licking it

Each of these steps helps reduce uncertainty.

Every interaction with food helps build confidence

For young children, unfamiliar foods can feel overwhelming. New colors, textures, temperatures, smells, and tastes all require the brain to process new information.

By allowing children to explore foods without pressure to eat them, we give their brains time to build familiarity and confidence. The goal isn't to convince your child to eat a tomato, but to help tomatoes become less mysterious over time.

8 fun food sensory play activities to try this summer

Gentle, playful exposure can help build flexibility around new foods without creating stress. Perhaps most importantly, exploration teaches children that food is interesting—not intimidating.

Here are some of my favorite activities that involve food and summer fun, and most of them don’t happen at the dinner table.

1. Visit a farmers market together

Take your child to your local farmers market. For babies, this becomes a wonderful sensory experience. They can watch colorful produce, smell fresh foods, and observe people eating.

Little ones can become active participants.

Ways your child can explore

• Pick one fruit they've never seen before.

• Choose which tomatoes look the biggest.

• Smell fresh basil or mint.

• Compare tiny blueberries to giant peaches.

• Hold a zucchini or cucumber.

• Help place produce into your shopping bag.

You don't have to buy a lot. The goal is simply making food feel familiar and exciting.

If your child picks out a vegetable they've never eaten before but refuses to taste it later, that's okay. The trip was still successful because they interacted with it in a positive way.

2. Plant something together

Children are naturally curious about where things come from. Growing food—even something simple—helps children connect with what they're eating.

You don't need a large backyard. Even a small container on a patio works beautifully.

Simple ways little hands can help

• Fill the pot with soil.

• Water the plants.

• Check on them each day.

• Watch flowers turn into food.

• Pick ripe fruits or vegetables.

Children often become much more interested in tasting foods they've helped grow. Even if they don't eat them, they gain appreciation and familiarity that supports future acceptance.

3. Go berry picking

Berry picking is one of the most naturally pressure-free feeding activities.

Children love searching for bright red strawberries or blueberries hidden among leaves.

Food sensory play happens naturally while berry picking

• Looking closely at food

• Touching different textures

• Smelling fresh fruit

• Comparing colors

• Learning where food grows

Some children will happily eat berries straight from the field (pro tip: bring a second set of clothes justttttt in case). Others will simply enjoy collecting them. Both experiences are valuable.

Back at home, let your child help wash the berries before serving them.

4. Make a frozen fruit sensory bin

Freeze slices of oranges, strawberries, blueberries, lemon wedges, and herbs in ice cubes.

Fill a bin with the frozen pieces and let your child scoop, melt, smell, and play with them on a hot day.

5. Turn washing produce into playful food exploration

Fill a sensory bin or water table with soapy water and let children "wash" fruits and vegetables using scrub brushes, sponges, or spray bottles.

6. Pack a summer picnic

Sometimes changing the environment completely changes a child's interest in food. Meals don't always have to happen at the kitchen table.

Spread out a blanket in your backyard or at a local park. Pack familiar favorites alongside one new seasonal food.

Children often become more relaxed when meals feel playful rather than structured. If your child spends more time watching birds than eating grapes, that's okay. Positive memories around food matter!

7. Bring food into everyday play

Food doesn't always have to start as something to eat. Play builds familiarity.

Easy food sensory play ideas to try outside

• Painting outside with a celery stick.

• Building funny faces using sliced fruits.

• Creating rainbow fruit skewers together.

• Pretending to run a fruit stand.

For babies who are just starting solids, simply allowing them to squish ripe peaches, watermelon, avocado, or cooked vegetables offers wonderful sensory learning. A perk of being outside is being able to hose them off easily. 🙂

8. Practice open cup drinking outside

We know that open cup drinking can feel like a big mess when your baby is first learning. Grab your open cups, put your baby in just a diaper, bring them outside, and let them start practicing open cup drinking.

If they get wet it's no big deal! There is no need to stress, which makes learning more fun for everyone.

How food sensory play helps build a positive relationship with food

Years from now, your child probably won't remember whether they ate three bites of zucchini.

They might remember:

• Picking strawberries with sticky hands.

• Watching tomatoes grow in the garden.

• Helping wash peaches in the sink.

• Eating watermelon barefoot on the porch.

• Running through sprinklers to wash away sticky foods.

• Laughing during a family picnic.

Those joyful experiences shape far more than food preferences—they shape relationships with eating.

The little moments matter more than perfect meals

When children associate food with connection, curiosity, and fun, they're more likely to approach new foods with confidence as they grow.

This summer, give yourself permission to focus less on what goes into your child's mouth and more on the experiences happening around it. Because adventurous eaters aren't created through pressure. They're nurtured through curiosity, repeated exposure, and positive experiences shared with the people they love.

 

Written by  Lauren Remondino,  M. Ed., CCC-SLP, IBCLC

Feeding Therapist, Speech Language Pathologist, Lactation Consultant & Advisor at Bébé Foodie

Lauren Remondino is a pediatric feeding specialist and mom, with a background in speech-language pathology and lactation counseling. After years working in top children’s hospitals, she now brings her clinical expertise—and real-life parenting perspective—to Bébé Foodie. Lauren works closely on developing our How to Serve guides and feeding support content, helping parents feel confident at every stage of their baby’s food journey. She’s all about keeping things realistic, flexible, and supportive—because feeding isn’t one-size-fits-all, especially when you’re juggling nap schedules and snack requests.