You don’t need us at Infruition Towers to tell you how important fruit and vegetables are to your child’s diet. You already know that they’re rammed full of nutrients and vitamins essential to the healthy growth of body and mind. You know that the typically high fibre content will help the digestive function, and you also know that oodles of fruit and veg varieties are actually fairly cheap to buy.
But, as a grown up in charge of a small, you probably know that sometimes it can be a battle getting the good stuff into them. That even the most adventurous little muncher can suddenly turn “picky”, refusing anything that isn’t beige.
So, we’ve put together some top tips to help re-engage your child with all things natural. In this blog, we’re looking at fruit.
1. Have a bowl of fruit on the dining table or in the kitchen
Try to have different varieties in the bowl each week, and talk to your kids about what’s inside. Let them touch and smell the fruit, so that they can explore the different shapes, colours and textures.
But, as a grown up in charge of a small, you probably know that sometimes it can be a battle getting the good stuff into them. That even the most adventurous little muncher can suddenly turn “picky”, refusing anything that isn’t beige.
So, we’ve put together some top tips to help re-engage your child with all things natural. In this blog, we’re looking at fruit.
1. Have a bowl of fruit on the dining table or in the kitchen
Try to have different varieties in the bowl each week, and talk to your kids about what’s inside. Let them touch and smell the fruit, so that they can explore the different shapes, colours and textures.
2. Grow your own fruit at home
You don’t need an awful lot of garden space to grow your own fruit, and children will love the process of preparing, planting and harvesting their own little crops. Strawberries are particularly easy, and will lend themselves to some quirky containers…
3. Visit a PYO farm
Many of these are open all year around, meaning you get the very best of local, seasonal produce. You might eat your entire haul before you’ve even left the car park, but that’s half the fun! Don’t have a farm near you? Not to worry, a greengrocer or even the fruit aisle at the supermarket will spark the same excitement if you treat it as a special trip out.
4. Get your bake on
There are zillions of recipes involving fruit that are easy for children to get involved in. A good starter is a fruit crumble (see our favourite by Jo Ingleby here), because you can throw pretty much anything in, and their little hands can help to make the crumble topping. Including fruits in as many meals or snacks as possible will help get maximum nutrients from a variety of sources.
5. Hone your presentation skills
How about this intergalactic visual journey for getting your small one excited about space AND fruit? You could even go a step further and pop all the fruits into one of our Kids bottles and make them some Aquanaut water…just saying!
6. Make your own nature, indoors
Stuck inside on a rainy day? Make your own rainbow fruit skewers as a snack, and add some yoghurt dip for a fun pudding treat. Children will love helping to chop and arrange the fruits before threading onto sticks. These brighten up lunch boxes too!
Image: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rainbow-fruit-kebabs.jpg
7. Get arty with your apples
We all remember potato printing from school, right? Time to bring it back into fashion using the humble apple. Slice in half and dab into different coloured paints to make these cute little ladybird prints for cards, wrapping paper, exercise book covers, bookmarks…you get the idea.
8. Make fruity icy pocket rockets
This is such a visually appealing way to present fruit to your children – once layered and frozen, the colours really pop out and each lolly can have as many flavours as you like. Smoosh up different fruits, and add to lolly moulds one layer at a time, giving each layer a blast in the freezer to set before adding the next one. Try adding a layer of frozen yoghurt too, for another change in texture and taste.
9. Rock out with your grapes out
Another craft activity for you – enlist your child to gather up some lovely flat stones from your garden (or neighbour’s driveway, local park, delete as appropriate) and paint them to look like different fruits. Add googly eyes for extra dramatic allure. A tip from one who knows – if you plan to put your painted stones back in the garden as decoration, varnish them first. Rain does not favour poster paint!
10. Encourage bedtime reading
Loads of books for children feature fruit in a positive, relatable way. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eating the Alphabet, James and the Giant Peach, Orange Pear Apple Bear…all of these will encourage your little one to ask questions about fruit, compare colours and shapes, and see the differences between seeds, pips and stones.
What tips & tricks to you all have? Let us know below - after all, sharing is caring.
Until Next Time...
Sam. x
Official Infruition Kids Brand Ambassador & Author of Mousemoometoo.com
Love these tips, especially the last one as we always have an array of stones and pebbles brough back from the beach!
Leave a comment