Tap AAC

Food communication boards: breakfast, snacks and recipes

A food communication board lets someone who doesn’t speak, or doesn’t speak much, ask for food and talk about it: I want pancakes, syrup, more, all done. Here are five free food boards to print: breakfast, snack time, fruits and vegetables, and two picture recipes, a no-cook snack mix and a ham and cheese sandwich, with one picture for each step.

Each board is one page. Print the PDF, or add the board to the Tap AAC app, where every button on the page says its words out loud.

Breakfast

Fourteen breakfast foods from cereal and toast to waffles and oatmeal, a row of things to put on top (butter, syrup, jam, peanut butter), six drinks, and the words that come up at every breakfast: more, all done, help, cut it up, yum, yuck.

Printable breakfast communication board with I and want. Breakfast: cereal, toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, yogurt, bagel, muffin, fruit. On top: butter, syrup, jam, honey, peanut butter, berries. Drinks: milk, orange juice, apple juice, water, chocolate milk, smoothie. Talk: more, all done, help, cut it up, yum, yuck.
Breakfast (one page), to print or to add to Tap AAC.

Breakfast PDF US Letter, 1 page, 1,092 KB

Portrait (tall page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,092 KB) · A4 PDF (1,092 KB)

Landscape (wide page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,094 KB) · A4 PDF (1,093 KB)

Have Tap AAC? Add to Tap AAC (.obz file, 1,204 KB) · How to add a board

Snack time

Twelve snacks, six drinks and the words for snack time: I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, one more, open it, please, let’s share and all gone. Good for home, the classroom snack table and a bag for days out.

Printable snack time communication board with I and want. Snacks: crackers, pretzels, popcorn, cheese, apple, grapes, applesauce, veggie sticks, raisins, granola bar, cookie, chips. Drinks: water, milk, juice, lemonade, smoothie, my water bottle. Talk: I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, more, one more, all gone, all done, open it please, help, let’s share, crunchy, yum, yuck.
Snack time (one page), to print or to add to Tap AAC.

Snack time PDF US Letter, 1 page, 1,092 KB

Portrait (tall page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,092 KB) · A4 PDF (1,091 KB)

Landscape (wide page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,093 KB) · A4 PDF (1,092 KB)

Have Tap AAC? Add to Tap AAC (.obz file, 1,207 KB) · How to add a board

Fruits and vegetables

Twelve fruits and twelve vegetables with I like at the top, and six words for how food tastes: sweet, sour, crunchy, juicy, yum, yuck. Use it at the table, in the grocery store, or for trying one new food a week.

Printable fruits and vegetables board with I and like. Fruits: apple, banana, orange, grapes, strawberries, watermelon, pineapple, pear, peach, blueberries, mango, cherries. Vegetables: carrots, broccoli, corn, peas, green beans, potato, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, pepper, mushroom, cauliflower. How does it taste: sweet, sour, crunchy, juicy, yum, yuck.
Fruits and vegetables (one page), to print or to add to Tap AAC.

Fruits and vegetables PDF US Letter, 1 page, 1,048 KB

Portrait (tall page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,048 KB) · A4 PDF (1,048 KB)

Landscape (wide page, 1 page): US Letter PDF (1,050 KB) · A4 PDF (1,050 KB)

Have Tap AAC? Add to Tap AAC (.obz file, 1,158 KB) · How to add a board

Visual recipes: snack mix and ham and cheese sandwich

Two picture recipes with no cooking and no knife, for kids who are learning to make food on their own. Each shows what you need, then numbered steps with a picture for each one: eight steps for the snack mix, eight for the sandwich. The PDF has both, one per page.

Printable visual recipe for a snack mix: you need a bowl, a spoon, pretzels, cereal, raisins and popcorn; steps: wash hands, get a bowl, add pretzels, add cereal, add raisins, add popcorn, stir it, eat it.
Page 1 of 2.
Printable visual recipe for a ham and cheese sandwich: you need bread, cheese, ham, lettuce, a plate and a napkin; steps: wash hands, get a plate, bread on the plate, add cheese, add ham, add lettuce, bread on top, eat it.
Page 2: the ham and cheese sandwich.

Visual recipes: snack mix and ham and cheese sandwich PDF US Letter, 2 pages, 633 KB

Portrait (tall page, 2 pages): US Letter PDF (633 KB) · A4 PDF (633 KB)

Landscape (wide page, 2 pages): US Letter PDF (632 KB) · A4 PDF (633 KB)

Have Tap AAC? Add to Tap AAC (.obz file, 812 KB) · How to add a board

The 4 boards at a glance

BoardButtonsPagesName in the Tap AAC app
Breakfast321“Breakfast”
Snack time321“Snack time”
Fruits and vegetables321“Fruits and vegetables”
Visual recipes: snack mix and ham and cheese sandwich282“Visual recipe: snack mix”, “Visual recipe: ham and cheese sandwich”

Every board is also a ready-made page in the Tap AAC app, under the name in the last column: search the app’s Page library for it. Printed together, the 4 boards make a small communication book on this topic: keep them in a binder or folder, with the one used most at the front (tips for communication books).

How to use the food boards

  1. Keep the board where the food is: on the fridge, at the table, in the lunch bag. A board that is out of reach doesn’t get used.
  2. Model it while you talk. Point as you speak: “I want … toast. Butter?” The person learns where the words are by watching you use them.
  3. Offer a choice, then wait. Hold up two options, ask, and give the person time to point. A pointed answer counts as an answer.
  4. Honor all done and yuck. When those words work, people use them, and they learn the board is really theirs.

For whole meals there is the mealtime communication board, and for cooking with a grown-up, the cooking board and visual recipe.

Cooking from the picture recipes

Read the recipe together before you start, and lay out the things in the “you need” row first. Then let the person follow the numbers and point to each step as it’s done. The snack mix has nothing hot and nothing sharp, so it’s a good first recipe; the sandwich needs a grown-up only to cut it in half at the end.

All the boards are free to print and share (terms of use). The “Add to Tap AAC” files are Open Board Format (.obz) files: Tap AAC opens each one as the printed page, and other AAC apps that open .obz files show it as a grid of buttons. How to add a board to Tap AAC.

More free boards on related topics

See all free printable boards

Need a different board? Make your own with the free AAC board maker.

These boards and guides are general information, not therapy or medical advice, and they don’t replace a speech therapist. A speech therapist who knows the person can help choose the right words, pictures and layout. The boards are free to print and share; please don’t sell them (terms of use). Questions about the boards? Email support@lmnoplabs.fun.