AT

Yippeeee! Foodie Freebies

What’s it all about?

It’s amazing really. Flavours find their way into the amniotic fluid, and a little one’s relationship with food begins before they are even born. Which is great, because studies have shown that little eaters are more willing to try foods they are already familiar with.

Even though little ones may be familiar with a few tastes early on, their little taste buds are still brand new. And they still need to taste new things lots and lots before they develop a taste for them.

A little one’s relationship with food is a multi-sensory one - they taste bananas before they are born, see them in the books, touch them at home and smell them when mum eats them…they might even see them singing on the TV.

So by making the weaning journey a fun multi-sensory learning experience, there’s more chance little ones will be willing to try something new. And by learning to love new flavours with ongoing familiarisation - rather than one-off introductions - mealtimes will become less of a battleground. And your little one will be much more likely to have healthy and positive food habits as they grow.

That’s what we’re all about at Ella’s Kitchen. It’s at the foundation of everything we do. We make familiarisation easier, with yummy healthy tastes in handy packaging. And we’re here to help along the way, to help your little one grow up to be a good eater.

We’ve put together this little restaurant at home kit to help you and your little one try some fun sensory activities like those happening at our Weeny Weaning Restaurant.

You’ll also find the restaurant menus. So take a look and try something new to taste.

Have fun and enjoy the experience with your little diner. But before you do, take a peek at our very grown up safety tips and terms and conditions in our ‘stuff for the senses’ section online.

Restaurant at home

We’re giving the first 1000 lucky shoppers a tasty 2®% off all our restaurant menu items. So quick! Go to our online

shop, and pick out some tummy-tickling treats for your little diner.

Simply enter the code:

W33NYW3ANING We’ll deliver your menu selections straight to your door. YUM!

Let’s get those senses sensing…

Activities

1. Sniffing things outYour little one’s sense of smell will have developed throughout pregnancy, which means they had already started sniffing things out before they were even born! But introducing more new smells and familiarising your little one with them as early as possible will help them recognise them as part of food sooner. It will also help them continue to develop their sense of smell and the core skills associated with their hand-eye coordination. Solet’s get those little noses twitching…

See what you have in the kitchen and garden and make your very own smell-tastic activity area. Then offer your little one the different smells one at a time, and talk about what their little sniffers are smelling.

At the restaurant the little diners have a sweet smelling herby garden to enjoy. It’s filled with everything from yummy basil and rosemary to scrummy parsley and thyme. There’s also a sweet smelling fruit and veg garden, with things like lemons, bananas, apples and mangos, all chopped up to release their lovely aromas.

You could take it outside and create a fragrant space in the garden using herbs. They not only smell great but also they are easy-peasy plants to grow, and are a great way of introducing both babies and toddlers to new foodie smells. Basil, parsley and chives are yummy-smelling herbs and are soft and safe enough for little mouths to have a nibble on if they want. Yum!

When it’s time to eat, make time to allow your baby or toddler to smell their food before eating it. This gets their little taste buds tingling! And encourage them to make a sound to show what they think of it… yummy or not! MM

Mmmmm

mmmm

If you haven’t got a garden, don’t worry. Plant some herbs in small pots on a windowsill and smell them as they grow!

Ripe fruits smell great and little ones can often recognise them. Share a range of ripe fruit with your baby or toddler and encourage them to have a good sniff of the skin. Making lots of positive noises will encourage them to follow.

Let’s eat

Activities

2. A touch of funWhen they are born, little ones already have a fairly good sense of touch. Introducing them to a variety of interesting textures early will help them feel more confident when they are offered yummy foods of differing textures, whether it’s lumpy, bumpy or silky.

At our restaurant we have a furry, fuzzy, shiny, rustly, touchy-feely area where little ones can crawl, roll and run with their little fingers and toes free to feel away.

Having explored their sense of touch, continue the adventure and engage this sense when interacting with food by providing opportunities to feel the textured skin of a range of fruits and vegetables. You could even slice them open to allow little fingers to touch the insides and see if they feel different. Then let them lick their fingers. Yum!

Yummmmmmm

m

Observe which fabric is most favoured and which they don’t like. Place pieces of material softly on their arms, hands and cheeks. Encourage them to make lovely ‘ahh!’ sounds to reflect how this feels. Have fun with fabric!

Also, you could make a selection of squishy bags for your little ones to explore. Just grab some ziplock freezer bags and put things inside for your little one to feel, like pasta (dried or cooked), chopped-up spongy mushrooms or juicy berries to be squished by little fingers.

Include a selection of textures for your baby or toddler to feel. But make sure the bags are tightly closed, otherwise…ooops!!! What a mess! Oh, and watch they don’t get hold of the items inside.

Squeeze fruits to show the juice oozing out. The fruits don’t have to be eaten unless they want to! It’s more about getting them familiar with the different textures before they are offered them at mealtimes.

At home, remove your little one’s shoes and socks, and let them explore their very own textured landscape made up of a selection of fun materials to touch, feel and squish! Like pieces of ribbon, silk, rough hessian, velvet and denim. Even things like squares of carpet, fake fur and plastic bubble wrap will make a touch-tingling textured floor for your baby to crawl over, or toddler to toddle on.

Let’s get those senses sensing…

Let’s eat

Activities

3. Seeing is believing Although your little one wouldn’t have been able to see too much when they were first born, you’ll have probably noticed how fast their sight developed in the first few months. Opening babies’ eyes to lots and lots of different foods of varying shapes and colours is a great way of helping them engage with them.

Take a look around and collect up some of the most colourful foods of lots of different shapes and sizes - you can find. Include a varied selection of food like bright orange carrot, green cucumber, yellow banana and ruby red strawberries. They will appeal to little eyes and reinforces a positive association with food.

At our Weeny Weaning Restaurant we have an exciting colourful area filled with lots of fruits and veg for little ones to look at, to get their taste buds tingling.

You could fill the bottles so they’re nearly full with water. Add some small berries such as red currants, blueberries or raspberries to make them bright and colourful, and to add a different dimension to the bottles. Give the bottles to your little one and let them play. Roll them across the floor and watch them discover what’s inside!

Colour is an important part of the eating experience. You could get crafty and make some coloured cards and find fruits or vegetables of the same colour. Play a matching game to see if your little one can match the cards to the same coloured fruit or vegetable.

Or go that extra mile and make a bubble bottle. It’s easy. Collect some empty plastic bottles with tight-fitting lids and fill them a third with water. Add a squirt of washing-up liquid and give the bottles a good shake to make lots of bubbles. Try adding a few drops of food colouring to make different coloured bubbles.

Let’s get those senses sensing…

If they’re eating chopped and minced food, show them the different shapes and colours, like the bright green peas, before they’re mixed in with their other food at mealtimes.

Having explored their sense of sight, continue the adventure and engage this sense each time they interact with food…

…If your baby or toddler is still eating pureed and mashed foods, have a selection of colours on offer for them to taste and see which ones they like most.

Let’s eat

While you’re making music with food, why not have a good old sing-along to our free Tasty Tunes, sung by Rachel Stevens.

Activities

4. Sounds goodYour little one’s hearing started to develop before they were even born and continues to develop in the months after birth. It is really important in helping them learn to talk. As you’ll have probably discovered, sounds can also be used to create excitement and anticipation when trying new foods.

At home this is easy. Why not make some foodie instruments of your own. Simply recycle plastic bottles of different shapes and sizes (make sure they all have tight-fitting lids). Grab a handful of dried foods like lentils, beans, cereal, pasta shapes or rice, and then let the noise begin!

At our restaurant we have a special noisy place where our little diners can make their own foodie music with different toys and fruit ‘n’ veg-struments.

Or why not spend some time listening to the different sounds foods can make? Like carrot sticks... show how to snap them in half to make a cracking sound. Or use toast fingers to make a crunchy sound when bitten into. Or try rubbing hard cheese along the tray of their high chair and hear the squeak!

Having explored their sense of hearing, continue the adventure and engage this sense each time they interact with food…

…Babies and toddlers will mimic what you do. So making lots of appreciative sounds while eating is a great way of encouraging acceptance of something new. At mealtimes, why not combine sounds with lots of positive facial expressions?

Let’s get those senses sensing…

Let’s eat

Go to Tasty Tunes!

Our yummy scrummy menu!

red peppers, sweet potatoes & applesparsnips parsnips parsnipssweet potatoes pumpkins apples + blueberriessweet potatoes sweet potatoesspinach apples & swedescarrots carrots carrots

1.

2.3.

4.

5.6.

1

4

2

5

3

6

wonderfully warming Beef Stew with spudsfabulously filling Fish Pie with mashvroom vroom Veggie Lasagne with a sprinkle of cheesechick-chick Chicken Casserole with ricepunchy Pork Roast Dinner with appleslovely Lamb Roast Dinner with all the trimmings

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1

4

2

5

3

6

full of sunshine Thai Curry with lots of vegsuper scrummy Salmon Risotto with a sprinkle of cheeseseriously comforting Cottage Pie with a pinch of cinnamonlovely Lamb Roast Dinner with all the trimmingstotally cool Caribbean Chicken with mangoesperfectly pleasing tomatoe–y pasta with plenty of veg

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1

4

2

5

3

6

Mains

Shop the menu

mangoes pears + papayaspeaches + bananasmango yummy yoghurt greek stylemango smooth & creamy fromage fraisberry yummy yoghurt greek stylebanana smooth & creamy fromage frais

1.2.3.

4.

5.

6.

berry yummy yoghurt greek stylebanana super smooth & creamy fromage frais the Green one smoothiemango super smooth & creamy fromage fraisthe Red one smoothiemango yummy yoghurt greek style

1.

2.

3. 4.

5.6.

berry yummy yoghurt greek stylebanana super smooth & creamy fromage frais the Green one smoothiemango super smooth & creamy fromage fraisthe Red one smoothiemango yummy yoghurt greek style

1.

2.

3. 4.

5.6.

1

4

2

5

3

6

1

4

2

5

3

6

1

4

2

5

3

6

www.ellaskitchen.co.uk

Our yummy scrummy menu!

Desserts

Shop the menu