title: Preschool children's perceptions of food and their food experiences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Developmental theory suggests that children learn from their experiences. However, little is known about preschool children's interpretation of their daily food experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to describe the criteria preschool children use to classify foods and their interpretation of their daily food experiences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semistructured interviews and observations of children's play in toy kitchens were conducted with children enrolled in public preschool programs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected over a 2-year period. During the first year of the study, observations and interviews were collected from 24 children. Interviews with an additional 79 children were conducted the following year.
  
  
  METHODS
  The variables measured included the children's criteria for food classification and their play behaviors in a toy kitchen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The children relied primarily on physical characteristics such as color, shape, and texture to classify foods. The activities that children demonstrated during play sessions included meal planning, food preparation, table preparation, serving food, eating, and cleaning. Pattern coding of the observational data revealed variability in (1) boys' and girls' kitchen play, (2) children's food selection and preparation methods and postmeal clean-up activities, and (3) children's responses to picky eating.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data may be used to develop a play-based nutrition education program.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94305, USA. matheson@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Matheson
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spranger
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saxe
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*