Let's Play with Food! - Engaging Therapy for Children with Sensory-Based Feeding Difficulties

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Eating is an intensely sensory activity.

Eating is one of the most important things a child learns, yet the ability to eat is something most people take for granted. It’s a complex activity that involves many of the body’s muscles and all the senses — and like many other skills, not everyone learns it in the same way or at the same pace. For parents, ensuring their child gets proper nutrition is essential. When a child doesn’t eat as expected, it can quickly become a source of stress and worry that shapes everyday life.

↑ Metaphor visualized with generative AI

Sensory-based feeding difficulties can be hard to grasp for those who haven’t experienced them firsthand. One expert shared a visual metaphor: a hotdog with a live snail inside. That kind of discomfort or hesitation reflects what a child might feel when faced with a food that seems completely ordinary to others.

Feeding Therapy Today.

Feeding therapy today increasingly follows the principles of the SOS (Sequential-Oral-Sensory) Approach to Feeding, which views eating as a developmental process that involves the whole body and all the senses. Rather than starting with eating, the SOS method begins with helping children feel safe around the food and gradually builds comfort through the sensory hierarchy of feeding — starting with looking at food, then interacting through smell, touch, and eventually taste and chewing. The approach is play-based, child-led, and non-pressuring, aiming to reduce mealtime stress and support positive, long-term feeding skills.

After a few sessions with a feeding therapist, parents are usually expected to continue the activities at home. But through conversations with parents, I learned that many feel unprepared to recreate the spontaneous, playful environment therapists build using everyday objects and on-the-spot ideas.

↑ Sensory Hierachy of Feeding

“
It is ‘play with a purpose’ that teaches a child the ‘physics of the food’ before the food ever get into their mouth. Being messy is an important part of learning to eat.
- Dr. Kay Toomey, Pediatric Psychologist

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The Toolkit.

The toolkit consists of a set of artifacts designed for playing with, manipulating, and exploring different foods. Its purpose is to help children become more familiar with the characteristics of new foods and support progress in their feeding development. Each piece is designed to stimulate the different senses — smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound.

Inspired by toys like Play-Doh, the toolkit has no set rules and encourages open-ended, creative play led by the child, allowing them to progress at their own pace. The kit can be introduced during a therapy session, but it is designed to be intuitive enough for families to continue using it at home without the guidance of a therapist.

Your next masterpiece. Painted with Yoghurt.

Jubo is filled with a liquid or something slightly thicker, like yoghurt. It can be used like a pen to draw with its contents, or rolled across your arm to explore the sensation on your skin.

Not every flower smells like cheese. This one might.

Vivi is filled with food, and when the lid is pressed down, a whiff of its contents is blown out through the flower-shaped head. Perfect for a guess-the-smell game. Vivi not only explores the sense of smell but also helps hide food that might be visually overwhelming.

Turn your snack into a soundtrack.

Chaka is like a maraca, but for food! What type of cereal creates best sound? Chaka can also be filled with ingredients and used as a shaker to see how they mix and interact, all visible through the clear lid. This prototype highlights one of the often overlooked sensory aspects of food: the sound it makes.

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Behind the scenes.

↑ Presenting my project at UID24

↑ Building fully-functional prototypes

↑ Discovering unexpected ways to play ;)

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Closing Thoughts.

What really resonates with me, looking back on my bachelor’s thesis, is the topic I chose. The problem is not only unfamiliar to many people, but also deeply misunderstood. In conversations with affected families, it was repeatedly expressed how isolated they felt, not just from being dismissed by friends and relatives, but also by healthcare professionals. Part of my motivation for the project was not only to create a answer to a problem, but also to highlight the issue as a legitimate challenge that shapes many people’s lives. Using design in this way was incredibly rewarding, not just as a tool for problem-solving but as a way to help people feel seen and understood.

The project also combined two topics I really enjoyed working with: 'designing for/with children', and 'food'. I’m definitely excited to explore both of them further in the future — whether together or separately.