Food is essential for everyone! Teaching your little ones about the food names in English helps them to expand their vocabulary related to food. But how to teach them about the food we eat? In this article, you will find the names of food items and some games and activities to help you teach your kid this important lesson.
But before jumping ahead to food names and activities, it is equally necessary to teach children the importance of food and its different tastes and textures. This will help kids to understand why we should eat healthy food and how to differentiate between the tastes and textures of the food we eat.
Let’s get started.
Why Food Is Important?
All living things need food to survive. It is the most common and important requirement to live on this planet; without it, we won’t be able to make it through our life and eventually end up feeling less energetic. Food helps us grow and stay fit and healthy. The food we eat affects our body and mental and social health as it contains nutrition, which is very important for our physical and mental development.
List Of Common Food Names For Children
Introduce the names of types of food with pictures to teach your child about food items. It is very important to learn the name of food items for children as they grow, because food is a very important part of everyone’s life.
Let’s read about the names of some food items.
1. Milk
A white liquid, rich in fat and protein that is secreted by female mammals like cows, buffalo, goat, etc.
2. Bread
A food item made from water, flour and yeast mixed together and baked.
3. Butter
A food item that is pale yellow in colour made by churning cream.
4. Cheese
A food item made from pressed curds of milk.
5. Yoghurt
A semi-solid food item made from fermented milk by adding bacteria to it.
6. Sandwich
A food item made using bread and filled with veggies, cheese, etc.
7. Pancake
A food item that is a thin, flat cake of batter fried on both sides in a pan and rolled up with a sweet filling.
8. Pie
A food item that is a baked dish of fruit, vegetables, or meat and is topped with pastry.
9. Honey
A food item that is sweet, a yellowish-brown fluid made by bees.
10. Waffle
A food item that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give the dough a specific size, shape and impression.
11. Donuts
A small food item that is sweet in taste and shaped like a ball or ring.
12. Salad
A food item made with various mixtures of raw or cooked vegetables seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressings.
13. Egg
An oval object laid by a female bird.
14. Bacon
A cured meat from the back of a pig.
15. Biryani
A food item made with seasoned rice, vegetables and sometimes meat.
16. Pasta
An Italian dish made from durum wheat and water. It comes in a variety of shapes.
17. Dosa
A food item made from rice flour and ground pulses which is served with potato and onion filling.
18. Ice cream
A soft frozen dessert made using milk, cream, and flavours.
19. Cake
A soft and sweet food item made using flour, eggs, sugar, and other bakery ingredients.
20. Cookie
A small sweet biscuit that has a chewy texture and generally contains pieces of chocolate or fruits.
21. Pizza
An Italian food item with flatbread and is topped with vegetables, meat, cheese, etc. and is baked.
22. Chips
A fast food item made using potato pieces that are baked or fried.
23. Oats
A food item that is a type of cereal grain from the Poaceae grass family of plants.
24. Bagel
A food item rolled in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.
25. Idli
A south Indian food item made using rice flour, usually served with sambhar.
26. Noodles
A very thin, long strip of flour paste, boiled and eaten with a hot sauce or added to a soup.
27. Chapati
A thin pancake of unleavened wholemeal bread cooked on a griddle.
28. Tacos
A Mexican dish that has a folded tortilla filled with various mixtures, such as seasoned mince, vegetables, chicken, or beans.
29. Pineapple
A fruit consisting of aromatic edible yellow flesh and is surrounded by tough segmented skin.
30. Carrot
A tapering red/orange-coloured root eaten as a vegetable.
31. Tomato
A red, or occasionally yellow, pulpy edible fruit that is eaten as a vegetable or in a salad.
32. Sour Cream
A cream that is deliberately fermented by the adding certain bacteria.
33. Rice
A swamp grass that is widely cultivated as a food source, especially in Asia.
36. Grapes
A berry that grows in clusters on a grapevine and is eaten as fruit.
38. French-fries
A food item made from potato strips and cooked by being fried in deep fat.
39. Orange
A fruit that is large, round and juicy with a tough, bright reddish-yellow rind.
40. Dhokla
A food item made from a batter of gram flour, cooked by steaming, and typically eaten in India.
Different Flavours And Textures Of The Foods
When it comes to food, it is not only just about the taste. It’s also about the texture of the food we eat. No one likes to eat food that tastes delicious but, texture-wise, is too poor, and vice-versa. Therefore, it is important to teach kids about the tastes and textures of the food we eat.
Introducing your child to a variety of different textures and tastes can help them:
- Develop fine motor skills (by picking food up with her fingers).
- Develop chewing skills.
- Learn to accept and like a variety of foods.
Tastes Of Foods
The taste of food is something that we can tell when we put food into our mouths. Some basic tastes of foods include:
- Sweet
- Sour
- Salty
- Bitter
- Spicy
- Umami
- Pungent
- Astringent
Texture Of Foods
Food texture is the feel of the food that we sense in our month while eating the food. Let’s look at some of the food textures.
- Hard
- Soft
- Crispy
Food Words For Kids
Now that you have understood food textures and tastes let’s look at some food-related words for children.
1. Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal of the day that we eat in the morning.
2. Lunch
Lunch is the meal that we eat at lunchtime, around noon.
3. Dinner ️
Dinner is generally the last meal of the day that we eat at least an hour before sleeping.
4. Snacks
Snacks are small portions of food we eat throughout the day, but not as a proper meal.
5. Take-Out Food
Take-out food is food that we buy from a restaurant or cafe, usually eaten at home or somewhere else, but not from where we buy it.
6. Drinks Or Beverages
Drinks or beverages are juice, water, milk, sodas and other drinks that are liquid.
7. Meal
The meal is the food we eat at a particular time, like lunch or dinner.
8. Bite
Bite is the piece of food that we take in our mouth and cut with our teeth.
9. Chew
Chew is when we crush the food with our teeth to eat it better.
10. Food Delivery
Food delivery is something that we generally order online at home.
How To Encourage Your Child To Learn About Names Of Food?
It is essential for children to learn the names of healthy food in English. Here are some ways in which you can encourage your little one to learn the same.
- Take your kid shopping when buying food items for the home. While you pick the items to buy, tell your child the name of each food item. This way, they will easily learn the names of different foods.
- Take a print of some images of food items and paste them on a flashcard. Now, show these flashcards to your child, one-by-one, and ask them to tell the name of that food item.
- Some kids love to play cooking games or the OG “kitchen-kitchen” game. Engage your little one with different food items and ask them to make an easy dish using them (flame-less cooking). In this way, they learn the name of food items by heart.
- When you serve your child a meal, ask them to identify items on their plate – roti, dal, veggies, bread, rice, fruits, etc. Make it a daily practice as it will make your child remember the food names and recall them easily.
- Make identifying different foods and learning their names easy for your child by asking them to touch food items like chapati, rice, vegetables, etc. This way, they will understand the difference between the look and texture of each food item. Make sure to tell them the name of each item while they explore its texture.
Also Read:
Spelling Words for Kids
Animal Riddles for Children
Number Names for Children to Boost Math Skills
