Many of you who know me know that I am a huge advocate for introducing new foods to kids, not just by offering them the actual food, but through books, games, movies, play, etc.

My daughter received a great game for Christmas that definitely qualifies as a unique way to expose kids to different foods. The game is made by eeBoo and is called The Picnic Game. The Picnic Game is played by spinning a wheel and collecting categories of food (main course, drink, vegetable, fruit, dessert). The first person to collect one food from each of the categories on their “plate” is the winner.

It’s a really fun and simple game and has been enjoyed by both my 6-year-old daughter and my 3-year-old son. We were playing the game the other day in fact and I was very surprised to see that my son chose the snap peas when the spinner landed on the vegetable category. My son, whose favorite thing to say is, “Carrots? Ewww, no my like carrots” (replace the word ‘carrots’ with almost any other type of food in the entire world and you wouldn’t be wrong!), was choosing snap peas? Well, maybe it was just a game, but I can’t help but think that those sorts of experiences carry over into real life. Maybe if we play the game enough and I make those same kinds of peas and I associate them with the game, he’ll actually give them a try. I like to think that this is the case anyway and I’m not giving up on that theory.

So, if you’re interested in helping your child on the path to becoming a great, adventurous eater, try out The Picnic Game. eeBoo also makes a similar game called Tea Party Game if tea parties are more your style.

And while you’re at it, here are some of my other favorite products to help get your picky eater more comfortable with the idea of new foods:

Board Books:

• Let’s Nosh
• Yum Yum Dim Sum
• Mangia Mangia!
• First Book of Sushi
• Hola Jalapeño
• A Little Bit of Soul Food
• Chaat and Sweets
• Jamberry
• Eating the Alphabet

Books for Toddlers:

• Lunch
• Green Eggs and Ham

Books for Older Kids:

• The Ugly Vegetables (a favorite in my house)
• Dim Sum for Everyone!
• Bread, Bread, Bread
• Pancakes, Pancakes!
• Growing Vegetable Soup
• Everybody Eats Lunch

Other:

• Ratatouille
• Family Fun Time Beginner Dinner Games

A couple of weeks ago I went to an event for Earth’s Best baby food. The event was meant to highlight some of the company’s new products and so some bloggers and other press people were invited to come and see what was new in the hopes that they would later write something favorable and help spread the word.

I have a been a huge fan of Earth’s Best since my now 6-year-old daughter started eating solid foods back in 2004. At the time, all of those lovely organic frozen baby foods that are now on the market didn’t really exist and so if you wanted something to feed your child in a super-quick hurry and you didn’t want to make it yourself, you went to a jar (I know, it seems so old-school, doesn’t it?). My local natural foods store carried Earth’s Best products and so I bought a few and quickly started to supplement my homemade baby foods with Earth’s Best jars, cereals and snacks.

Since Earth’s Best has been my go-to organic baby food product for the past 5 1/2 years, you can imagine my surprise when, after asking at the event if the cans for some of their new products contained BPA, I was told that yes, they did. I kind of figured that, in this day and age, any new product that comes in a can and is geared toward children would not contain BPA. But when I asked why this was the case, I was told by Shauna Burke, Director of Public Affairs for The Hain Celestial Group (owner of Earth’s Best), that she did not have an answer but would get back to me.

Today I received an email from Ms. Burke and I’ve reprinted below, with her permission, some of what she said:

“What I learned is that all canned products that contain foods with any amount of acidity are canned in the traditional format –i.e. a can with a thin interior coating which contains BPA. You had mentioned that a different brand now uses a BPA free method of canning and uses baked on oleoresinous within their steel cans. Baked oleoresinous may only be used when canning non-acidic products such as beans. If you look at the label on canned soups by this other brand, they are not canned using the same method as their beans.  Any food product containing acidity may corrode baked on oleoresinous and thus it is not a viable option.

Currently, there are no commercial canning alternatives available on the market. At Earth’s Best we continue to research suitable methods of canning as they become available.”

I am pleased that Earth’s Best got back to me with an answer, and I still think they have great products. But I am not an expert in BPA, nor canning processes. If anyone has information and cares to comment, please do so below.

My good friend Jennifer Perillo at The Mama Chronicles gave me a sample of Home Free cookies to try a while back. Home Free makes a line of allergen-free cookies and cakes so that kids with food allergies won’t feel left out at snack time.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, but I thought the cookies were really good. I particularly liked the chocolate chocolate chip ones (but maybe that’s just because I can’t ever seem to get enough chocolate).

Home Free also has a cookbook and a line of allergen-free baking ingredients so that you can make your own treats for birthdays and other celebrations – or just because – without worrying about an allergic reaction.

Boston Mamas is giving away a Home Free organic cookie sampler pack. Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by TOMORROW, June 4, 2009.

A list of some online food-related contests for you to check out…Good luck!

• Mom in the City is giving away $100 worth of Uncle Ben’s products. Click here to enter the contest by May 31, 2009.

• Your Mama Reviews is giving away a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Click here to enter the contest by May 19, 2009.

• Bookie Boo Raves is giving away a bib from DaBib. Click here to enter the contest by May 26, 2009.

• Playground for Parents is giving away three months worth of gourmet cookies from Country Cupboard Cookies. Click here to enter the contest by May 19, 2009.

• Kid Buy Products is giving away a Green Toys tea set. Click here to enter the contest by May 18, 2009.

• Real Simple Saving Methods is giving away a copy of Taste of Home – The Busy Family Cookbook. Click here to enter the contest by May 24, 2009.

• WiseBread.com is giving away JP Monkey reusable grocery bags. Click here to enter the contest by May 19, 2009.

My good friend Jennifer over at Mama Chronicles is giving away a copy of Rachel Anne Hill’s Baby and Toddler Cookbook: Deliciously Natural Recipes for Happy, Healthy Kids.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

Good luck!

Image by Lottery Monkey

Check out some of these fun food-related giveaways I found across the Web. Deadlines for each contest are in bold print below. Good luck!

1. A Wrestling Addicted Mommy is giving away a mini sampler from Fiber Gourmet. I’ve never heard of them, but their products sound intriguing. At the very least, it’s some free food in this crazy economy!

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by February 22, 2009 at 11:59pm ET.

2. Fabulous Fun Finds is giving away an apron of your choice from Flirty Aprons. This is my first time seeing these aprons and I think they are adorable. So, for all you cooks out there, check them out and try to win one.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win before midnight PT on February 17, 2009.

3. Grab Bag Reviews is giving away a Flip and Tumble reusable shopping bag. I have also never seen these before, but again, they look great.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by March 5, 2009.

4 & 5. Dexter’s Super Savvy Mommy is giving away a bib from DaBib.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by February 24, 2009 at noon ET.

This site is also giving away a Kaboost! I love this product. Really, I can’t say enough about it. We have one for Lucie and it really makes sitting at the table a lot easier for little kids that are too big for a high chair or booster but too small for a regular kitchen chair.

Visit this giveaway here and enter to win by February 23, 2009 at noon ET.

6. Lucky for you Chic Shopper Chick is giving away The Learning Tower. This is one of my favorite products. If you have a little kid that loves to cook with you, I highly recommend getting one of these. Winning one would be even better!

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by the end of the day TOMORROW, February 17, 2009.

7. Chefdruck Musings is giving away an autographed copy of Cat Cora’s latest cookbook, Cooking from the Hip – Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals. I actually attended the event that Chefdruck refers to in her post about this giveaway and I have to agree with her, Cat Cora was ‘incredibly friendly and approachable.’ The cookbook looks great too.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by February 20, 2009.

The Food Section has written about this, and because their pictures are so great, I’m just going to point you to their story directly…

Teeny Tiny Broccoli People, Part Deux.

Funny and creepy.

Homemaker Barbi is giving away a breastfeeding  book and BPA-free bottle by Medela.

Visit the giveaway here and enter to win by midnight PST on November 14, 2008.

There’s a nice article on Epicurious called Back to School Lunches that goes along with today’s release of a new cookbook titled Real Food for Healthy Kids.

The article includes tips for packing lunches and offers recipes from the new book. My favorite tips are the ones called “Give Jr. Power” and “Vary the Menu” in the section of the article called tips for keeping picky eaters happy.

The cookbook itself contains over 200 recipes for kids, all of which are said to have been taste-tested by children.

I bought these “chopsticks” for the kids the other day while I was away on a short business trip. Lucie, especially, loves all kinds of Asian foods and is always practicing with regular chopsticks, so I thought they would be a good idea. We ended up ordering Thai food (even Ronan, who eats almost nothing likes Thai food) when I got back last night, so the kids got to put their zoo sticks to use. They worked great and the kids both loved them. I got Lucie a purple panda and Ronan a yellow monkey.