It’s a tale as old as time. Kids poke, squash, and tear apart their food while parents tell them off to stop playing with the food. It can be messy, sometimes even wasteful. But did you know that letting your children have fun with their food is actually good for them?
According to the Developmental Science journal, letting your children treat their food and snacks creatively can help with early brain development. How? By exposing the kids to stimuli (for example, food textures) and concepts that are important during their developmental stage.
Moreover, research studies from the De Montfort University also state that encouraging kids to treat their food like art actually encourages them to develop good eating habits! Findings show that those who were encouraged to explore and handle their food are less likely to develop neophobia because we gave them the space for food acceptance and exploration.
Now, these studies suggest that while taste does play a role in encouraging kids to appreciate a meal, it is their ability to touch and handle them themselves that inspires them to snack on them later since it makes them overcome their resistance to them on their own terms.
Thankfully, there are snacks like Gardenia’s Pocket Sandwich, a ready-to-go snack of freshly sealed goodness perfect for merienda, that now comes in double flavors. Parents can choose from their two new double-flavored variants White Chocolate & Blueberry and Raspberry & Peanut Butter or go for the classic, single flavors like Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Strawberry Pastillas, and Cheese.
Besides this, every pack of Pocket Sandwich is filled with vitamins A, B1, and B2, and minerals like iron good for the eyes and the release of energy, respectively.
More importantly, parents can now cut down their brainstorming and food prep time with these snacks and use their free hours to discover with their children.
Now, whoever said creativity and food can’t go together? For parents out there, you can now start your food discovery journey by grabbing a few packs of Gardenia’s Pocket Sandwich. It’s available in all leading groceries nationwide for only PHP 12.75 SRP for double-flavored variants and PHP12.00 SRP for single flavors. You can also visit Gardenia’s website at https://www.gardenia.com.ph or follow them on Facebook to keep updated on all their products.
