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Exploring food or drinks away from meal and snack times  

Overview

Messy play and food-based exploration can be a bit tricky to do at home, but it’s a great way for autistic children to learn and have fun. Here are some tips and activities to help your child engage with food and drinks at home. Remember to adapt these activities to your child’s individual needs and preferences and let them participate without any pressure.

Speaking with professionals about autistic children’s eating habits
03:26

Speaking with professionals about autistic children’s eating habits

Tips to introduce food and drinks for autistic children
03:53

Tips to introduce food and drinks for autistic children

Presenting food and drinks
06:10

Presenting food and drinks

Introducing food and drinks tips from parents and professionals

Explore further

Getting ready to explore and play 

This section offers helpful tips for creating a calm and supportive environment for sensory play. It also focuses on making sure your child feels safe during activities, while gradually helping them become more comfortable with mess.

Separating food-based play and non-taste sensory play  

This section offers strategies to help children understand the difference between food-based play and non-taste sensory play. These tips aim to prevent children from mistaking non-food items for something they can eat.

The importance of textures during exploration and play

This section looks at different textures and how they might affect your child. By understanding these texture types, you can plan activities that gently introduce your child to a wider range of textures over time.

Increasing comfort around mess 
 

This section offers tips to help your child become more comfortable with mess. It includes step-by-step guidance on how to introduce mess gradually, making it easier for your child to adjust at their own pace.

A one step at a time approach for increasing touch experiences 

This section outlines steps for gradually introducing and increasing touch experiences. These steps are designed to help your child become more comfortable with different textures and messy play over time.

The importance of smell and sounds during exploration and play 

This section provides tips for managing sensory challenges like strong smells and unfamiliar sounds, making messy play more comfortable for your child.

Food exploration and play: Tips for success in schools

This section provides tips for success when exploring food.

Playful ways to help children become familiar with foods 

This section suggests playful ways to help your child get comfortable with different foods outside of mealtimes, like planting food.

Messy play and food exploration

This section provides an overview of food-based messy play.

Key messages

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