I Can Try New Foods Social Story

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Social stories use a patient and reassuring tone to teach children about social situations in a way that can be easily understood. Social stories are particularly useful for children on the autistic spectrum for whom social cues can be challenging and who often suffer anxiety if they do not know what to expect from a situation however social stories can also be useful for any child who is struggling to understand a situation or concept or needs help to understand a social skill or social cue, expectations, perspectives, common responses or is troubled about an upcoming event.

This social story is designed to help support children who are struggling with eating food and trying new foods. It refers to children taking a dislike to the color, smell or look of food and helps children to think about ways to overcome this by taking it slowly and gradually touching and smelling the food and bringing it close to their face before tasting it.

These books should be used over and over to reinforce the point so I would suggest either putting the pages into a display book or laminating and binding them.

Clipart images courtesy of Kari Bolt.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Students will identify a specific reason (color, smell, or appearance) that a new food feels difficult to try.
Students will follow a five-step gradual exposure sequence -- touch, smell, bring close, tongue-tip taste, small bite -- when approaching a new food.

Teaching tips

Read the story before an actual food-trying opportunity, such as lunch or a snack activity, so the five steps are fresh when the child is asked to try something new.
Laminate or place the pages in a display book, as the credits and story pages suggest, since a social story like this is meant to be read repeatedly rather than once.

Skills covered

Sensory tolerance building — moving through touch, smell, and proximity steps before tasting, to reduce the intensity of trying something unfamiliar.
Emotional naming — identifying specific reasons (color, smell, look) that make a new food feel hard to accept.
Sequential self-management — following an ordered, repeatable set of steps toward a goal instead of being asked to succeed all at once.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What specific steps does the story use to help a child try a new food?

It breaks the process into five small steps: touching the food with a finger, smelling it, holding a forkful close to the face, touching it with the tip of the tongue, and finally taking a small bite.

Is there a version for both American and British spelling conventions?

Yes -- the same 16-page story is included in an American English edition and a British English edition, with only spelling differences like "color" versus "colour."