Genuine Fred DINNER WINNER Kids' Dinner Tray, Pirate

Huge help for my super picky eater. I will probably go into more detail than I need to, but for parents at a loss, my child just had FOUR plates of food from this plate. For quality: it’s great, heavy plastic. I don’t expect it to fade or chip at all. The finish square has a cover which is great for hiding the surprise at the end to keep kids excited to eat or at least more open to eat. I do wish the finish square was just slightly bigger, but that’s only because I’m putting hot wheels cars under it. It would be great for a small piece of chocolate or fruit, not much bigger than that. Now my story with this plate: I have a 3 year old who is one of the pickiest eaters. Trying new foods would result in refusal, meltdowns and tears. I’ve tried it all, offering foods over and over, getting them involved in making, bribery, etc and while I might get a couple bites here or there on the rare occasion, nothing really worked. Tonight I made one safe food (mashed potatoes) meatballs and carrots. I started with every other square mashed potatoes and each square 1 to 2 bites with a hot wheels car wrapped in a paper towel hidden underneath the finish. My toddler was hesitant and first, but with repeated reminders it was only one bite and then back to mashed potatoes, he finally tried a bite! From there, the next plate I upped it, now it was 2-3 bites and then back to mashed potatoes. By the 4th plate we were up to 4 bites per square! He easily had 8 carrot slices, a full meatball and probably 3/4 of a cup of mashed potatoes total! Previous attempts with a “normal” plate of this exact meal were very, very lucky if he took 1 or 2 bites total if any at all. Making it into a game and smaller bites helped us tremendously!! I’m absolutely shocked and so happy we took a chance on it!!

This has helped my 5 year old eat so much! A little background, my child was born prematurely, 100% g-tube fed all her life, and oral aversion was at its peak. With the help of feeding therapy, she has become more open to trying new food and textures. However, we have struggled to get her to finish her food even when she’s hungry. This plate keeps her engaged and willing to take the next bite with hopes of reaching the surprise at the end. There has been once instance where she wanted another surprise and was able to complete the “map” AGAIN! Really great tool to help make eating fun for the older kids.

My son is autistic, which comes with some serious sensory issues. We have tried so many ideas to encourage him to eat fruits and veggies and meats and other “moist” foods that we know he needs to eat for nutritional value, but he just can’t stand to eat anything except dry, crunchy food (crackers, chips, other processed food). We’ve never had success though. It’s been an exhausting battle…until this plate was suggested to us. We’ve had it over a month now, and EVERY SINGLE NIGHT since it arrived, my son BEGS to “play” it. He begs for the challenge of fruits and veggies and chicken on his plate. He evens begs for a 2nd plate of that same HEALTHY food. We’ve made it a fun game every night. My son gets input on the “treat” that goes in the surprise final tray at the end (we often put in vitamin gummies on his first round). We don’t rush him; we make it fun and tell stories along the way as he eats a new food from a new spot on the plate (“Don’t let T-Rex take your chicken! He loves to eat meat!”). We all cheer him on when he finishes with big clapping and chants, and he is always so excited to open the cap on the surprise tray at the finish line (even when he knows what’s inside). I cannot recommend this plate enough. It has literally changed my evenings with my family. It used to be so overwhelming figuring out ways to get my son the nutrition he needs without causing the whole house the stress of an overwhelming meltdown. Now my son looks forward to dinner, and it’s enjoyable and fun for all of us. I’ll also note: the price seemed so high to me at first, but the plate is amazing quality and has had such an impact on my child’s eating habits that I would’ve paid twice as much for it knowing what I know now. I even intend on getting another for him as a birthday gift.

This thing has dramatically changed how my son views trying new food. He's four, and he never wanted to so much as touch greens or fruits or anything that wasn't "yummy." But with this plate, I put one-bite samples of new foods in each area, with his favorite foods alternating in between, and he's tried all kinds of foods that he NEVER would have eaten before. And he does it with a cheerful attitude, instead of whining and sobbing and arguing. He said the other day, "Even if I don't like tomatoes, I can just swallow them quick and then eat my candy!" He's really into looking at it like a "game." I make him start at the start of the plate path, and he can't skip any squares as he progresses towards the dessert at the end. If he wants to quit halfway through, I just shrug and say, "Okay, no problem. Maybe next time you'll make it to the dessert at the end. I'll wrap this up and put it in the fridge for the next meal." That's only happened once - the rest of the meals he's eaten everything on the plate for the last several weeks since we got it! And it takes the stress out of it all. I LOVE love love this plate.

After a rough stretch with persistent acid reflux, my 4-year-old developed a negative association with meals. The Genuine Fred DINNER WINNER, Enchanted Forest tray was truly magical. he now looks forward to meals, and mealtime is fun again. The segmented “steps” make portions feel manageable and turn dinner into an adventure. Only gripe: we lost the lid for the little treat box at the “finish,” and it’s been challenging to find a substitute. I wish they sold lids separately. Overall, fantastic product, just docking one star for the lack of replacement lids.

I’m using this for feeding therapy and it is great!

Picky eater? Buy this. You know you've already tried everything else. Here's my picky eater story: he ate everything when he was little. Whatever I ate, he ate. Avocado, pork chops, risotto, even unagi (this is still his favorite food if you ask him), and then around 3-4 I started letting him order from the kids menu and I broke him. I broke my wonderful eater, and I was tossed headlong into a world of chicken nuggets and kraft mac and cheese. If I could undo anything, it would be that cursed kids menu. It got so bad that at one point he would only eat KRAFT macaroni or MCDONALD'S chicken nuggets. Absolutely ridiculous. He wouldn't even try different candy - he literally only ate the Hershey chocolates from his Halloween candy. Dad and I got all the other goodies. I took him to the doctor, and even to PT to determine if it was a sensory disorder or something. I thought it would get better at school. Surely peer pressure and being stuck there all day he'd be so hungry he'd eat what they gave him. Nope. He'd eat the milk at whatever tiny side he didn't mind. The doctor told me not to stick his likes and to make him eat what the family eats. Nope, he'd just go to bed hungry. Then on to school and be hungry. My kid would rather starve. We tried games, bribes, punishment, even force (have you ever seen a kid spit out hot fudge or honey?) So yeah, I'd give up. Occasionally I would absolutely force the issue and make him eat something, (like a fried chicken leg or something - something I knew he liked but it looked different). And here were are now and he's 7.5 and he still refuses to try new things. I refuse to let him be one of those 40 year old men who only eat chicken nuggets. He will psyche himself out and assume he won't like something and then wash it down with milk. He does this with foods that he probably actually would like if he gave it an honest and fair try. I've been just outright forcing him to eat things now. It's just a battle of wills to break him before this becomes a lifelong problem for him. Somehow I stumbled across this and bought it because "what the hell". I thought he was too old to be enticed by this and wished I had found it sooner. To my surprise he was ALL ABOUT HIS TREASURE MAP. He's had 4 meals so far and REQUESTS the map. He's excited about what his prize will be, and even excited about what his foods will be. Granted, he's not thrilled about all of them, but he eats them. They're small portions and he can wrap his head around it. My kid are 2 pieces of broccoli without argument tonight. I didn't have to spend 30 minutes talking him into it. He's rated several new foods and I'm excited to go shopping to find new things to put on his tray. He knows there will always be easy spaces with food he does like, and that makes him feel safe. He's got 2 or 3 "dangerous" spots for new foods. Is he falling in love with his new tastes? Not yet. But he's understanding that food doesn't have to be your favorite to eat it (no one really gets excited about veggies - but we eat them, and we find ways to make them yummy). Will he start to like the new things he's being exposed to? I sure hope so. I hope it's at least taking the fear our of it and making tasting new things ok. Will he stay interested in the plate? He'll probably not be as excited forever, but we're definitely going to use it to get him in track with being a healthy eater. Buy this!

My 3 year old would not eat anything good other than milk, bacon, raisin bread and the occasional chicken strip, only wanted cookies/chocolate/candy. I am a professional chef and make tons of good food for him to try, I know he would like it if only he would try it but could never convince him to taste anything, not even pizza/mac & cheese/mashed potato, nothing. I put tiny portions of various foods on this plate, making sure there was at least one thing I knew he would eat, and then put a candy in the treasure chest spot. The first attempt he ate 3 new foods and since then he tries at least a bite of whatever I put in the tray because to him it’s a game that he likes to play. We have only been using this for a few days and he’s already tried a dozen new items and to his surprise he likes them. These plates are a great icebreaker to get kids past stubbornly refusing everything you try to feed them, best purchase in a long time!