For Parents & Clinicians
Created by a pediatric feeding specialist for real families, real questions, and real mealtimes—and built to double as practical, client-ready resources for the clinicians who support them.
20 pages - Ages 3+
Not sure what to do when your child refuses a food?
It’s dinner time. You’ve made a delicious meal, hoping (maybe even crossing your fingers) that your little one will be open to trying it… only to be met with the familiar, “Ew, I don’t like that!”
Now you’re left wondering what to do next.
Do you pressure them to take a bite? Offer a reward? Or avoid new foods altogether just to keep the peace?
While these approaches might work in the moment, they often leave children stuck eating the same few foods—while mealtimes continue to feel stressful and uncertain.
There is another way.
This guide introduces you to the Learning Plate—a simple, effective approach that helps children become comfortable with new foods without pressure, tricks, or power struggles.
Because for many children, what looks like “defiance” is actually fear—fear of being pushed to eat something their body doesn’t feel ready for yet. Children don’t just decide to eat new foods… they need to learn how.
And that’s exactly what this guide will help you do.
Confidently introduce new foods without pressure
Understand the Steps to Eating and what your child actually needs before taking a bite
Support your child at each stage of food learning
Reduce mealtime stress and build a more positive feeding environment
Use simple, practical strategies you can start using right away
By the end, you’ll have a clear, supportive roadmap and a toolbox of strategies to help your child build comfort, confidence, and curiosity around new foods at their own pace.
Whether you’re a parent navigating picky eating or a clinician supporting families, this guide will give you the clarity and tools you’ve been looking for.
23 pages - Ages 2+
This guide introduces the core foundations of a supportive food learning environment, helping parents create positive, low-pressure mealtime experiences that support children in trying new foods and expanding dietary variety. It explains the roles caregivers and children play in the feeding relationship, outlines essential mindset shifts for picky eating, and explores how consistent food exposure supports long-term eating confidence.
Throughout the guide, you’ll find reflection questions and parent and child check-in checklists designed to help you identify what’s working at mealtimes, recognize areas for growth, and better understand how your child is engaging in their own food learning journey.
If you’re looking for practical, developmentally supportive ways to help your child feel more comfortable with new foods, this guide will help you approach feeding with clarity and confidence. While you can’t force a child to eat, you can create the conditions that support learning to eat at your child’s own pace safely, sustainably, and with trust.
8 pages - Ages 2+
Does your child struggle to come to the table or have a hard time staying there once a meal begins?
Eating is a whole-body experience. For mealtimes to go smoothly your child’s body and nervous system need support to transition to the table feeling calm, organized, and ready. When the body is dysregulated, eating is often the last thing the brain wants to do.
Learn how supporting regulation before meals can transform mealtimes, with simple activities that help children feel calm, focused, and ready to eat.
2 pages - Ages 2+
Visual supports such as this one are helpful when teaching a new routine or skill.
Routines follow steps in a particular order with the intent of achieving a goal.
In the context of mealtime it is to:
a. help your child smoothly transition to and from mealtime
b. listen to their hunger cues and eat as much as their body tells them to
c. signal to their brain the start and end of meals
Visual supports for routines can also help teach children skills like independence, memory recall, and language.
They are especially helpful when aiming to maintain boundaries around snacking in between meals as it marks the beginning and ending of mealtime activity.
The steps included in the visual are there for a reason. Steps 1 and 2 prepare your child’s body to signal they are about to eat. Step 3 focuses on eating and connection. Remember mealtime is more than just eating. It’s a chance to slow down and be with your child. Step 4 strengthens children’s ability to listen to their fullness cues and stop eating when their body signals satiety (this is known as intuitive eating). Step 5 signals to their brain that mealtime is done. Finally, Step 6 tells your child when they can expect their next meal and will help prevent snacking in-between meals.
This is what creates boundaries and expectations, two keys to feeding success.
This visual includes key pointers on what to focus on when implementing a mealtime routine in order to support smoother transitions and practicality in yours and your child's day-to-day.
BONUS: We’ve included a link to a KFW exclusive mealtime routine song you can play at the start of meals to further support your child in transitioning to mealtime! We hope you and your child enjoy it as much as we do!
2 pages - Ages 2+
We often ask children to jump right to tasting and eating without realizing children need support to work their way up to get there.
The Steps to Eating Roadmap outlines the steps a child moves through before they feel comfortable trying a new food.
By understanding these steps, you can meet your child where they are and provide gentle exposure overtime. This will also help you gauge where your child falls along this roadmap and see how they are progressing overtime.
Let's say your child moves from interacting with food using tongs (step 2) to feeling comfortable touching it with their hands and body (step 4), that is progress!
If your child feels comfortable taking a teeny tiny taste and then doesn't want anymore, that's progress!
You can print this visual and put it on your fridge as a friendly reminder that progress is sequential and most of all, it takes time.
8 pages - Ages 2+
One of the best ways to support children’s eating habits is by creating a predictable and (somewhat) structured routine. Visual supports are a powerful tool that can be used when teaching children new routines or skills, hence why they are used so often in daycares, preschools, and beyond.
For many children, including those with picky eating tendencies, habits like grazing (aka snacking throughout the day) can often lead to a reduced appetite when you have scheduled meals like dinner with the family. When a child comes to the table not hungry, this can lead to misbehavior, frequently getting up and down from the table, greater resistance when offered a new food, mealtime battles, and does not create an environment that will support your child’s feeding success.
My implementing a schedule that sets boundaries around snacking and assures your child has 5-6 set meals throughout the day, you can be sure your child gets plenty of opportunities to meet their energy needs, support their appetite so they come to the table eagerly, and create a feeding environment that feels safe and predictable.
This resource includes four printable visual schedules and a “Closed Kitchen” sign so your child knows exactly when meals and snacks will happen. These visuals take the guesswork out of eating and give children the sense of control and security they need to arrive at the table calm, hungry, and ready to eat.
Visual supports work because they turn expectations into something your child can see and trust. Over time, this consistency helps regulate hunger cues, reduce grazing, and make trying new foods less overwhelming.
To learn more about the power of mealtime schedules and routines you can check out our blog: How Mealtime Schedules and Routines Help Picky Eaters Enjoy Peaceful Meals& How to Get Your Child to Sit and Eat: Simple Mealtime Routines That Work
4 pages - Ages 2+
Feeding and sensory development are deeply connected. Children learn about food through their senses long before they’re ready to eat it. This resource gives you simple, safe ingredient ideas you can find in your home to help your child explore food in fun, pressure-free ways.
If your child tends to resist meals or messy play, becomes distressed when new foods are introduced, constantly wants to clean their hands or face, eats only a limited variety of foods, or gags or spits food out, this resource is for you. These can all be signs that your child needs extra support developing the sensory and self-regulation skills that make eating feel safe and enjoyable.
By exploring food through sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell without pressure to eat, your child learns to process new sensations in a fun, relaxed way. Join in, describe what you notice, and celebrate each step. The more sensory experiences your child has, the more confident and open they’ll become around food.
1 page - Ages 3+
This resource helps you and your child explore food using the five senses. By giving children simple words to describe what they notice, we help them express what they’re experiencing and build confidence around new foods. The more your child can talk about what they see, smell, hear, feel, and taste, the more comfortable and curious they’ll become at the table.
There’s no single way to use this resource. You might:
Pick one food and explore it together with all five senses.
Create a “sensory word chart” during meals or play.
Turn it into a game — guess the food by sound, smell, or feel.
Let your child make up their own words or draw what they notice.
The goal is not to get your child to eat everything right away but to help them understand and describe what they experience. Over time, this builds trust, curiosity, and a sense of control, which are key ingredients for helping picky eaters explore new foods.
37 pages - Ages 3+
Our KFW Food Catalog includes over 300 foods categorized by food groups such as fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, grains, dairy, beans, sauces, oils, herbs and more.
Many children are unaware of the vast array of foods available to us, which can limit their exposure and curiosity to only what they like and see in their immediate environment.
To learn about new foods, children need to see and be exposed to new foods.
Sit with your child and browse through each page together. Take note of any foods that catch their eye and make it a goal to learn about that food and even research a recipe together that includes their desired food. Get your child involved in gathering the ingredients and preparing it with you in the kitchen. This is how food learning occurs.
By allowing your child to choose which food they want to explore, it gives them the independence and control they need to boost their confidence around new foods and marks the beginning steps to trying something new.
9 pages
Many parents confuse typically feeding behaviors as problematic without knowing they are NORMAL. This free guide walks you through 3 keys stages in children’s feeding development that impact not only their appetite but their willingness to explore new foods including:
The strive for independence
The stage of food neophobia
Growth rate slow down
This guide also includes a checklist that compares typical feeding behaviors and signs of a Pediatric Feeding Disorder so you know what’s normal and what may require further investigation by a medical team.
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