By JaNay Brown-Wood, PhD, Author & Educator

Here’s a question for all the parents out there: When it comes to trying new foods, are you an adventurous eater or someone who likes to stick to what you know? Are you someone who happily tries a new restaurant with lots of menu items that you’ve never even heard of before, or are you someone who searches that menu for the things that you know you’ll like?

Either way—it’s okay! Adventurous or not, including healthy foods in your diet—whether they are new to you or your well-loved staples—is what is essential. But we’re adults. We’ve had years, decades, centuries (okay, maybe not centuries) to figure out the types of foods we tend to like and to refine our diets. What about our children? Imagine if your four- or five-year-old only stuck to what he knew (i.e. mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and green beans all day, every day). So much for expanding his horizons.

Keeping this in mind, I want to offer you an important fact about young children, particularly those who are in the early childhood years—think 3 to 6 years old. Generally, their appetites shrink due to the slowing down of their physical growth, compared to when they were infants and toddlers. With a shrinking appetite and a less-than-eager attitude for trying something new, it can definitely be a challenge.

So how do we get our picky eaters to try new foods, especially if we may be averse to that ourselves? Here are a few ideas:

Involve Your Child in the Process

At each step of the meal process, see if you can include your little one’s help.

• When writing your shopping list, have your child give some ideas of foods to buy.

• At the store, have your child grab the items off the shelves and add them to the basket.

• At meal preparation time, have your child help you prepare the dishes. He or she can wash vegetables, snap beans, even do some mixing.

• Once the food is prepared, give your child a spoon and allow her to scoop some of each item onto her own plate.

• And if you are receiving a Small Bites box, have your child help you unbox the items, look over the menus, and prepare together!

Make it a Game

• My four-year-old daughter loves playing the “Fruits and Vegetables game” where she describes different characteristics of produce and then I try to guess what it is. When I guess it correctly, then it’s my turn to describe so she can guess.

• Try it out with your child so you are associating a fun activity with the thought of fruits and vegetables. You can also add in some new produce when you are having your child guess. If they don’t get it right, you can label it and say, “we should try that one the next time we go the grocery store.” For example, maybe you tell your child, “it is reddish-purple on the outside, white on the inside, very crunchy, and it is a vegetable.” If your child can’t figure it out you can say, “good guess, but it’s a radish. Have you tried a radish before? Let’s get some from the store next time so we can try it together.”

• You can even give your child a challenge when at the store. Tell your child a characteristic and let them know that they have to pick one new fruit or vegetable that matches that characteristic. For instance, “okay, today you get to pick one new vegetable that is green.” Then, find a fun way to cook and serve that vegetable for dinner.

Model, Model, Model

• I don’t mean strut your stuff on a catwalk. I mean show your child what you expect with your own behavior. That means…you may have to try some new fruits and veggies, too! Children watch what we do and often, they mimic our actions as well. Any parent who has accidentally dropped a curse word around your three-year-old definitely knows this to be true! So, have your child see YOU eating new fruits and veggies. Have them watch YOU try something new. It’s okay if you don’t like it, now you know for sure. But what an adventure to think of what you’ll try next week when grocery shopping.

Find it in Books & Videos

• And if you are looking for even more ideas of different fruits and vegetables to expose your child to, you can definitely check out my new picture book series called Where in the Garden. These fun picture books follow characters through different gardens and introduces readers to familiar and unfamiliar produce. The first book Amara’s Farm includes familiar produce like apples and potatoes, but also new produce to try such as kumquats and okra. AND there is a fun Molasses Pumpkin Bread recipe at the end of the book that you can make with your child!

• Checkout this fun video of me and my kid-chefs preparing Molasses Pumpkin Bread ourselves:

All in all, it’s understandable that preschoolers are not adventurous eaters. This change in behavior is actually adaptive decreasing the chance that your child will put something unfamiliar and potentially dangerous in her mouth. And with her shrinking appetite, it provides a new challenge for us parents. But, we can do it! I believe in us! With some adventure and creativity, and of course some modeling and stepping a bit out of our own comfort zones, we can build some healthy and adventurous eaters, too.

Author Bio:

JaNay Brown-Wood, PhD, is an award-winning children’s author, poet, educator, and scholar. Her first children’s book Imani’s Moon won the NAESP Children’s Book of the Year Award and was featured on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show and Storytime with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, her second book Grandma’s Tiny House: A Counting Story! received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and won the CELI Read Aloud Book Award. She is also the author of Amara's Farm (Peachtree, September 2021) the first title of the Where in the Garden four-book series (Peachtree, forthcoming 2022, 2024). JaNay lives in California with her husband Catrayel, her daughter Vivian, and their two turtles. She enjoys writing for kids, spending time with her family, and spreading the word about healthy development and the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Learn more about her on her website www.janaybrownwood.com.