Finger food fun by Bournemouth's experts at Organix

But the challenge for parents can be how to come up with a variety of ideas to present food that will help make mealtimes fun.

Here the experts at children's organic food company Organix, based in Bournemouth, have developed some recipe ideas and tips to inspire children with a lifelong love of good food.

Finger foods are a great way of offering variety to your child, as they provide a whole new world of exciting tastes, textures, shapes and colours and are easy for them to grab so they feel more in control of their choices.

Mixing up textures, shapes and colours and encouraging little ones to play and experiment with food helps them gather sensory information and learn how to accept new foods.

From chewy pasta, to crispy rice cakes, melt in the mouth corn puffs, crumbly baby biscuits and squishy strawberries, you can offer lots of texture choices to help develop your baby’s curiosity about food and build their confidence and enjoyment.

Unlike in the old days when parents told their little ones off for playing with their food, modern mums see the positive benefits of encouraging little ones to play with their food and have fun:

• 86% feel it’s important for babies to handle and play with new foods before they taste it.

• 93% feel it’s important to let a baby play with and experiment with food.

• 93% recognise that the first year of a baby’s life is about fun - playing with food and developing skills.

Dr Frankie Phillips, nutrition advisor to Organix , says: “The introduction of finger foods can help to develop a little one’s sense of independence, and parents can encourage a positive attitude to food by making mealtimes fun for their child and allowing them to play with and experiment with their food.”

Frankie explains that as well as encouraging self-feeding, independence and autonomy, finger foods come with lots of other benefits for little ones, like developing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and improving dexterity.

The variety of colours, shapes and sizes of finger foods also gives little ones a range of sensory experiences.

Psychologist Dr Angharad Rudkin says, “This is important as babies learn through their senses in the first two years of life. So when you introduce a new food to your child, by giving them an opportunity to touch it, squish it and rub it between their hands, you are allowing them to use all of the resources they have to learn about that food.”

Organix Fun finger food plates – getting creative to help little ones explore food

Why not add some fun with a creative finger food plate, you can mix up purees with finger food so your baby has a choice of tastes, textures and shapes to explore. Don’t worry you don’t have to have an art degree just a little imagination and a little help from Organix/

Try these fun ideas for starters:

1. Trees

• 3 carrot sticks

• 1 sweetcorn ring

• 3 broccoli florets

• 3 cauliflower florets

• 6 fine green beans

• 1/4 avocado mashed

Steam / boil the vegetables for about 5 minutes until just tender, and still bright in colour.

Mash the avocado until smooth.

Create your picture: spread avocado at the bottom of the plate, tree trunks on top, then tree leaves and finally a sweetcorn ring sun!

2. Train

• 3 tomato slices

• 3 red pepper hearts

• 1 carrot

• 1 courgette

• ½ cherry tomato

• 4 nibs of sweetcorn

• thick slice of red pepper

. Peel the carrot and cut in half across the middle and then each piece lengthwise creating 4 chunky batons. Cut the courgette into very thin slices lengthwise. Roast both with a drizzle of olive oil in a moderately hot oven for about 20-25minutes, until golden. (The courgette may need to come out first).

. Cut the red pepper into a train chimney shape and a little square to link the carriages.

Create your picture: Place one roasted piece of courgette at the bottom of the plate as a train track. Add three wheels, then the carrot and pepper to make the train. Add the hearts for smoke, and the tomato and sweetcorn as sunshine.

3. Caterpillar

• 2 carrot and tomato rice cakes

• ¼ red pepper

• 4cm piece of celery

• ¼ cherry tomato

• 6 thin slices cucumber

• 8 nibs of sweetcorn

• 1 small salad leaf

Cut the red pepper into eight little squares, about 1cm square. Plus two little triangles. Cut the celery into two long thin sticks for antenna.

Create your picture: Layer the cucumber slices in a caterpillar wiggle across the plate. Add a rice cake head and a rice cake sun. Add red pepper feet and eyes, a tomato smile, antenna and a leafy snack. Finally add sweet corn sun rays.

For more inspiring finger food plate ideas, visit facebook.com/organixfood and https://instagram.com/organixfood where you can also upload and share your ideas with other parents.