In this series of articles, I’m going to talk about the difference between sensory and SENSORY across different systems and about the impact of engagement work on people of all neurotypes who experience ability and disability.
This article focuses on taste. Despite being a relatively weak sensory system, it is the only one where we generally recognise differences in processing between us: we all know not everyone likes mushrooms, olives, sprouts or Marmite!
Here’s how to do taste in a little letter way:
‘Touch: SENSORY’
Beg the children to try a bite of a vegetable alongside their regular packet snack
Why isn’t this capital letter sensory? Well, for a start, it is unlikely to end up with an engagement with taste. Even if they do put it in their mouth, will they be attending to the flavour or just trying to chomp it up and swallow it to win your approval?
I said at the top of this article that taste is a relatively weak sense. We might watch Bake Off or MasterChef and salivate at the creations, thinking, “I’d like to taste some of that,” but actually, what we are lusting after is the smell of the food, which we enjoy when we put it in our mouths. Most of the flavours we experience come to us through our sense of smell. Without that active (think bunged-up little noses), we only taste five flavours: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (the savoury flavour).
So, how can we make a taste experience capital letter sensory?
‘Taste: SENSORY’
- Try retro-nasally tasting colourful sweets
- Explore flavour without the requirement to eat
- Make mystery-flavoured food to invite adventure
- Bring in foods they’ve not seen before and share (not dare) them
“We don’t want children shoving sweets up their nose, Jo!” I hear your cry. Don’t worry; retro-nasal doesn’t mean putting things up your nose backwards. It’s great fun—try it yourself. It is a way to realise how basic a sense taste is. Get a pack of Skittles or different flavoured jellybeans. Hold your nose closed and, without looking at which colour you’ve got, pop a sweet in your mouth. Begin to eat it. It will taste sweet (without smell, you only have those five flavours). You’ll notice the texture more than usual (when children don’t like eating, we often talk about taste but don’t consider texture). Then let go of your nose – suddenly, you’ll know what flavour you’re eating!
Exploring Sensory Flavours Without Eating
You can explore flavour without eating by using pipettes or straws to drop liquid onto little tongues. Think about a bit of honey in hot water or a little bit of broth (avoid salty because too much salt is poisonous, and everyone has enough in their diet already – you don’t want to risk someone finding your salt solution and downing it). A drop of peppermint mouthwash can also be used.
Bake shops have any number of weird and wonderful flavourings, easy to add to cupcakes or biscuits, to playfully discover different flavours. (Of course, these are all quite synthetic flavours – if you’re a member of staff who has actual culinary talent, they may be able to do better than this!)
Bring in a dragon fruit, a lychee, a colourful melon, a pomegranate, and think about how you present it. Show it as something precious that is yours, something that you might possibly be willing to share! Don’t present it as a threat, as a dare, as a “who is going to be brave enough to try this.” It’s “whose privilege will it be to get to taste this!”
We often think of taste in our settings when someone is struggling to eat a variety of foods. In my next article, we will look at ideas around supporting children to try new foods. Don’t forget to check back through the articles already published for ideas around offering capital letter sight and touch experiences!
Read more from this series here:
Sensory Engagement: Transform Visual Learning Into An Engaging Experience
Sensory Strategies To Transform Visual Learning
Sensory Engagement Through Touch: Crafting Unforgettable Experiences
Sensory Development: Enhancing Engagement Through Touch
