I would only let her play with food if she can sit without support, has good head and neck control and has lost the tongue thrust reflex. There is no way she is ready to eat food if this is not happening. There is no point to trying too early, it only risks introducing something into her system she isn't ready for. There is no harm waiting, vs potential harm starting too early.

Babies often stick everything in their mouths at this age anyway. If she isn't ready, she probably won't eat it, but without the signs above, there's a chance an overly enthusiastic observer (like a DH or MIL, I have one of those too ) will feed her from a spoon, move to purees, etc, to 'help' her.

Personally, I just had a firm rule of not before six mths and then there was no confusion.