Claire Baseley
Infant nutritionist / Makes Ella's Good
food texture, shape + size for little kids
From 12 months onwards, your little one is ready to explore even more deeelicious foods and textures! Their menu might be growing but toddlers still have different needs to older children + grown-ups. Learning to chew, bite and self-feed is all part of the adventure at this age, so offering the right textures can really help support their confidence at mealtimes. Check out our handy guide to toddler textures below!
Developmental milestones
By the age of 18m, your toddler can bite and chew a wide range of foods, cleverly using their tongue, teeth (including molars if they have come through) and jaw to move food around in their mouth, chew it well and swallow it down into their tummy.
They are often able to eat relatively independently by this age, and can manage larger, firmer and more fibrous foods. They might also be able to use cutlery with more skill.
Some toddlers might be able to deal with harder foods like crunchy cereals, and crumbly, firmer, chewier, fibrous or crunchier foods (like steak, breadsticks or dried fruit). But every toddler is different – don’t worry if yours still struggles with some of these textures. It takes time to develop chewing skills.
What foods can I give my toddler + how should I prepare them?
Safety is the most important factor when preparing food for little kids under 5 years old.
Soft foods like veg, fruit, pasta, meat, fish, beans, egg and so on should be moist and easily mashable under a fork. They’re still best offered cut up into small chunks but avoid anything with a spherical shape like whole grapes and cherry tomatoes.
Harder foods like biscuits, breadsticks, cereals and crackers should have a dissolvable, melty texture, although a small level of crumbliness might be acceptable for some toddlers. Again, avoid anything that is hard and round.
Here, we’ve split foods into different categories and explained how to prepare them safely for your toddler. This is adapted from the Food Standards Agency advice, linked here.
