Our family is fortunate to have children and grandchildren that love to eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables, they have grown up with us growing, and harvesting our own fruit and vegetables to eat so they love to eat them.
I know many children are not as excited about eating these healthy foods so I will share with you some ideas to help them become healthier eaters of their fruits and vegetables and make it fun for them.
The Best way to get Children to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
One of the best ways to get them to like their fruit and vegetables is to get the children involved in the garden by having them plant seeds and seedlings to watch them grow and to have them harvest what they have grown.
A great way to get a child into planting a garden is to make it easier for them to plant the seeds using seed tape for smaller seeds like carrots.
Lastly, have them prepare the vegetables and fruit they have picked to make one of these special treats.
Fun Fruit and Vegetable Ideas
Below you will see what you can do to make bananas a fun fruit for your children. My 13-year-old granddaughter decorated these to get her sister and brothers to eat more bananas.
She used Acrylic paint markers that are non-toxic to draw these figures on the bananas.
You can be creative with your drawings and decorations based on your children’s interests.
One banana has 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, 28 grams of carbohydrate, 15 grams of sugar (naturally occurring), 3 grams of fiber, and 450 mg of potassium.
VEGGIE SMILIE FACE SNACK
This is one of the easiest recipes and the child can use their favorite veggies to make their own face designs to eat or you can surprise them with your artistic creation.
To make them all you need to do is cut up vegetables and cheese (optional) to design the faces.
Carrots, Cucumbers, Peppers, Peas, and Cheese to make it more nutritious. You can be creative to use your own favorite veggies. Add a scoop of hummus or ranch for dipping the vegetables in.
Broccoli Forest
This is a great way to get your children to eat broccoli which is usually not a favorite of children. Broccoli is loaded with great nutrients and 1 serving has only 50 calories. Vitamins, B, C, D, and B-6 as well as Calcium and Dietary Fiber.
Mix in a potato that contains vitamin C and Potassium and you have a complete meal.
Recipe
Steamed Broccoli
1 medium to large potato per person
Fruit Smoothie
To make this a flavorful and nutritious smoothie that kids and parents will love on those warm or hot afternoons we have a recipe that everyone will love.
Recipe
1 medium banana frozen
fter cup berries mixed or individual varieties (Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, Raspberries)
1/2 a cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, for a sweeter version you can replace the nonfat yogurt with naturally sweetened yogurt
1/2 to 1 full cup of spinach
Add a little orange juice to get the thickness you prefer
Peas of all Kinds
For a great healthy snack that children love let them go into the garden to pick peas, shelling are fun for them to pop out the peas in each pod to eat right in the garden.
Snow and Snap peas are great to keep in a bowl on the counter for them to snack on and enjoy instead of sugary or processed foods.
I have not had a child turn down a fresh pea pod after tasting one yet.
I hope this post on The Best way to get Children to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables was helpful for you to come up with some new and exciting ways to involve your children or grandchildren in the garden.
