Eat and drink
Smells, temperatures and textures on the plate can feel unpredictable, while handling a fork and knife tires fine motor skills at the same time. The pictures below make the parts of the meal calm and clear, one step at a time.
♂Eat and drink
A child eats a piece of food from a fork and drinks from a cup with a straw.
♂Eat and drink
A child takes a bite of a bun and drinks from a cup with a straw.
About this visual support
A plate can be full of surprises for a child: a sauce that smells strong, a piece hotter than it looks, a texture that suddenly feels slimy in the mouth. Add that fork, knife and glass demand fine motor skills that tire, and the meal becomes as much work as pleasure, sometimes before the child has even settled into the chair.
With visual support the meal can be split into manageable parts: sit down, serve a sensible amount, taste, drink, wipe the mouth. When each step has a picture, what is coming becomes predictable, and the child can take on one thing at a time instead of facing the whole plate at once. The pictures also make the end visible, so the child sees that the meal will finish and does not stretch on forever.
One concrete tip: make tasting a small bite its own low step, so that tasting becomes safe and optional rather than a demand to finish everything. In Routined you can build the meal steps with a timer for a calm pace and try it all for fourteen days at no cost.