It might be hard to let you child truly “explore” his food when we know that food is meant to be eaten. Toddlers don’t know that the beautiful green avocado is meant to be immediately put into his mouth. He doesn’t know food from toys from dirt. Everything is to be explored. His first interest is how does it feel between my fingers? Can I squish it? Can I mash it? Eventually that avocado will make it to his mouth but not for nourishment, for further exploration! What does it feel like on my lips and tongue? What does it taste like? What does it look like when I spit it out?
Giving your child freedom at meal times to explore his food is helping to create a little scientists. They are making theories, then testing those theories over and over again. The more often they prove their theory correct, the stronger those pathways are in the brain and new learning occurs.
Provide child utensils to start teaching self-feeding but always account for some uninterrupted exploration time. Don’t worry, you can throw him in the bathtub afterwards…and there is even more opportunity for exploration there!