Activities that engage young children with the sensory properties of foods are popular with nursery schools,
despite the lack of evidence for their efficacy in increasing children’s consumption of healthy foods. This
study provides the first empirical exploration of the effectiveness of a non-taste sensory activity program
in a nursery school setting. Ninety-two children aged between 12 and 36 months were allocated either
to an intervention group, who took part in looking, listening, feeling and smelling activities with unusual
fruits and vegetables every day for 4 weeks, or to a non-intervention control group. In a subsequent mealtime
taste test, children touched and tasted more of the vegetables to which they had been familiarized
in their playtime activities than of a matched set of non-exposed foods. The results demonstrate that
hands-on activities with unfamiliar fruits and vegetables can enhance children’s willingness to taste these
foods, and confirm the potential for such activities to support healthy eating initiatives.
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license