5 Fun Food-Inspired Activities for Kids

Looking for fun activities while also teaching your kids about food? We’ve got 5 fun food-inspired activities for kids perfect for the occasion. 

Children are naturally curious. Creating fun discovery games about fresh, seasonal ingredients is a great way for them to learn about food from around the world and have fun at the same time.

Name the Ingredient

Introduce new foods and cultures to your kids through a fun matching game! Cut up a bunch of different ingredients they haven’t tried before (a mix of fruits, proteins, and veggies is always a great idea), print out some cards with the names of each ingredient and match the ingredient to the name! Have them try one ingredient at a time (you can do this alongside them) and then get them to guess what the food is from the name tags. Don’t forget to go through and teach them afterwards what each food is and where its from!

Fresh Tip: Keep note of which ingredients your kids enjoy so you know you can start including them in their meals.

Plant a Vegetable Together

Learning where your food comes from is an important part of food education. Not to mention, kids that are involved in growing or picking their vegetables are more likely to eat them. A great (and fun) way to do this is to start your very own garden. You can do so in your backyard, on your window sill, or even at a community garden! Have them pick out which veggie they’d like to try and grow and then create a watering and feeding schedule together. And now you watch it grow!

Food Guessing Game

Add an ingredient (like a peach or a carrot) to a paper bag and have your kids guess what the food is! It’s best to use produce that has a recognizable shape or texture. Exploring foods with all your sensing is a great way to encourage kids to eat their vegetables and fruit.

Build Your Own Pizza Night

This is one of our favourites because not only is it fun, it’s delicious! Lay out some prepped ingredients (like cheese, sauce, veggies, and proteins) and have everyone build their own pizza. You can use pizza dough, pita bread, english muffin, or tortilla! Encourage adding 1-2 ingredients from each food category but ultimately leave the choice to them. Pizza is a great way to eat ingredients from every category and not to mention a family favourite!

Food Alphabet

A great activity to do together! Go through the alphabet together and at each letter introduce a food that starts with that letter. You can even bring some samples of some of the ingredients for them to try. We know what you’re thinking… some of these letters might be hard to think of ingredients for. Don’t worry not all the letters need to be fruit or vegetables. Do a good mix of different types of foods so they have a well rounded knowledge of food. Still worried? We’ve got some examples for those hard to think of letters.

• I – Iceberg lettuce, ice cream, iodized salt, etc.
• Q – Quinoa, quiche, queso, quail, quesadilla, etc.
• U – Udon, unsweetened chocolate chips, unleavened bread, etc.
• X – Ximenia caffra (a sour plum from South East Africa), xôi (a sweet or savoury Vietnamese dish made from glutinous rice), etc.
• Z – Zucchini, ziti, zeppole, etc.

This one requires a bit more work and research but is a great why to build your kids (and your) knowledge of food around the world.

Creating fun and flavourful snacks in another great way to get your kids interested in food. Check out these delicious snack ideas for kids.