Advice On Making Healthy Food Fun For Kids

posted on 08/01/2009

As any parent knows, kids are notorious for not wanting to eat anything that might be good for them. But luckily there are ways to distract them from how healthy something is by making it fun! A few good tricks to play around with are colors, shapes, dips, and temperature.

For veggies you can julienne a variety of brightly colored fresh vegetables such as bell peppers, carrots, and cucumber. To add another layer of shape and texture try fresh crispy snow peas! If this isn't enough to interest your little one, giving them something to dip it in might do the trick. Some healthy and delicious dipping options are salsa, hummus, or cream cheese (the whipped kind is a little easier to manage). Try to stay away from fatty and sugary options like ranch dressing or processed cheese.

For fruits, try dicing them up into cubes and letting your child poke them with a toothpick instead of using their hands or conventional utensils. Some great options for this technique are apples, grapes, peaches, and oranges. You can also let them dip their fruits. Some yummy dipping options for fruit are yogurt, cream cheese, and peanut butter.

If your kiddo still isn't interested you can take it to the next level by offering frozen fare. Mixed frozen vegetables served right out of the freezer make a chilly and fun snack. Plus, the cold temperature mellows the flavor so you might be surprised what they'll eat. You can freeze chunks of fresh fruit or buy frozen fruit at the store and use that and 100% fruit juice to make tasty smoothies in the blender. You can also fill an ice tray with fruit juice to make fruity cubes which are fun to eat by themselves or add to a cup of a different juice (for instance: grape juice ice cubes in a cup of apple juice adds color and flavor).

As you can see, a little creativity goes a long way and just might be enough to make your fussy eater expand their dining repertoire.