The plate of colours
Explore foods like countries, with no obligation to eat
Learning through play
When the table becomes a battle, everyone loses — and the one who eats least gets the most pressure. This game flips it: each food is a country to explore, always next to something familiar, and exploring obliges you to nothing. You look, you smell, you touch, and the "I try a little bit" is decided by them alone. Curiosity grows exactly where the pressure pulls back.
By age: At 2-3, touching and playing with the food IS exploring; at 4-6, the map of flavours and collecting countries work a treat.
What you’ll need
- ·Foods in a variety of colours, including the usual ones
- ·A big plate or tray
Getting ready
Cut little pieces of two or three colours and put them next to something they already eat. Two minutes.
How it goes, step by step
- 1
Put together a plate with "countries": each colour a place to explore, always next to something familiar
- 2
Explore with no obligation: first you look, then you smell, then — if they want — you touch
- 3
The "I try a little bit" is decided by them alone; putting it back politely is fine too
- 4
Note or draw the countries explored on their map of flavours
- 5
Eat the same yourself and enjoy it in front of them, without selling them anything
Safety
Cut to size for their age (watch whole grapes, whole nuts and sausage rounds before 4-5) and always seated and supervised.
Your tool for the moment
Your job is what, when and where you eat; theirs, how much and whether they eat. Every plea or dessert-bribe adds pressure — and pressure is exactly what feeds the refusal.
The phrase they keep
«I look. I smell. I try a little bit.»
The pedagogical why
Food neophobia is normal and is overcome with repeated exposure without pressure. The division of responsibility (the adult decides what, when and where; the child, how much and whether) protects the relationship with food.
Honestly: A new food may need 10-15 calm exposures before it is accepted: this is a slow sowing, not a trick to get them to eat broccoli tonight.
Source: Ellyn Satter, Division of Responsibility in Feeding; research on repeated exposure
Grounded in developmental psychology and citable sources. It does not replace a professional’s assessment; if anything worries you, talk to your paediatrician.
What you get
- 1
The activity’s audio guide in Tilo’s voice, step by step
- 2
The everyday materials you’ll need — nothing to buy
- 3
The illustrated story and its audio story for this same situation
- 4
The Moment’s song, made to measure
- 5
The family guide: how to hold the play, and the rest of the week, from a calm place
Digital delivery by email. The confirmed delivery window will be shown before payment.
The story that plants it
The map of flavours
The mealtime war
The plate of colours
Explore foods like countries, with no obligation to eat
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