Share your tricks for encouraging kids to eat healthily with Soreen - chance to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

Behind every child's balanced diet is a healthy portion of creativity, and Soreen want to find out about all the imaginative ways in which you jazz up healthy foods to make them more appealing for your DCs.

Here’s what Soreen has to say: “At Soreen we created our individually wrapped lunchbox loaves to feature our malt loaf character, in order to keep lunchtime and snack time healthy but exciting for young children. We’re always trying to come up with new ways to help children make heathier choices and would love to hear how you do this with your DCs.”

So how do you make healthier food choices more fun? Do you fashion food into faces? Draw smiles on bananas and egg shells? Or even blend fruit and vegetables to hide them completely?

Share your creative ways of making healthy eating more fun below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

i have always added new and fresh produce to my sons plate from him being really small, He still wont tackle salad but i will continue to put it on his plate. He is starting to ask more questions now, so we can talk about the food on his plate, where it comes from and how it grows etc. and maybe that will work

Having good conversations about healthy foods and how they can be made tasty. We also adapt his favourite foods to make them healthier such as adding extra veggies to bolgonaise

Getting them involved in prep as early as possible. We make pizzas. They LOVE creating faces on theirs and adding colour which is great for getting veg into their diet.

I get my kiddies involved with the whole process of cooking, They write the shopping list. Help with the shopping. Then they help with the cooking/baking. They are much more likely to try the food if they have helped cook it. Also they try some of the raw ingredients, especially things like carrots.

i've arranged fruit and vegetables in the shape of faces before to encourage my little one to eat them. seems to work anyway!

I am very practical and say you will like it when you are older, then they want to try

Putting sliced fruit and veg in an animal party box whilst we are out does the trick and rewards at home for eating healthy

I get them to help me cook so they can taste what they have made. Seems to work!

I strongly believe in learning by example, so we all eat lots of veg and fruit. The kids seem to want to eat what the adults have and learn good habits from early on if adults eat healthy.

Take them to shops and farmers markets where they can try samples of food. This has really helped my son. Always seems to try foods here! Let them have little tastes of food off your plate when they are young. Always tastes yummy off of someones else's plate! Cook and get your children involved.

Make them look like chips. Mash them and shape like chips if necessary . Works a treat.

Disguise it in things like soup and spag bol when they're younger. Another good trick when they're a bit older is to cook with them and let them understand what healthy vitamins are in each of the healthy foods

I always think it helps when they are toddlers to hide veggie in blended sauces so that they don't have any 'lumps' in their food, as they get older it helps to include them in the cooking experience, and make choices as to what ingredients they wish to include in their sauces so that they are more likely to eat the final result.

Our daughters have never been fussy eaters and will eat most meals put in front of them but when they have helped to prepare and cook it, they are even more keen to try it out!

I talked to my two about the benefits of having their 5 a day. They found it really interesting and like to ask about which foods count, how big the portion needs to be. This really helps them to manage it themselves, they like to work out how many they have had and will ask for extra fruit or veg if they're worried they won't hit 5 for that day.

I think the important thing is to always have veg on the plate from the beginning, whether they eat it or they don't. I also blended veg into sauces. My eldest is autistic and at one stage was such a fussy eater that he really only liked cream cheese sandwiches and yogurt, but I persevered week after week and year after year... now, at 10 years old, he eats everything. He loves vegetables, he's a huge salad fan and he devours everything I cook - I honestly think perseverance is absolutely key. If my son could change over time, any child can. My youngest also went through the odd fussy stage, but is the same as my other now, he eats everything and we all enjoy food together. When I say persevere, I don't mean make them sit there till they eat it, but still serve food they don't like and get them to take just a bite - over time, their tastes will change, as long as they keep trying it and also - include other foods on the plate that they do like. :)

Get them to join in cooking with you and bake healthy snacks together

They love to get involved with the cooking and preparation. DIY pizza is a favourite. They pick the toppings and arrange them on their own individual pizza.

Be encouraging and let them help you with preparation of food. Don't let them say they don't like it if they have never tried it!

You don't need a trick - just don't give them unhealthy food and they won't crave it. You don't miss what you've never had. (Ask a nun)

we have lots of variety of good food and make it part of everyday life :)

We tell our Ronan that the superheros in his body that fight off nasty bugs need fruit and veggies that match their coloured outfits to make them stronger and fitter..Rosie is Red, so he eats tomatoes, strawberrys and red grapes to help her, Gerry is Green so he eats courgettes, peas and apples to help him and Yasmin is Yellow so he eats sweetcorn, bananas and melon to help her. Also veggies that he isnt overly keen on, i blend into sauces and gravys and he is none the wiser!!

If your kids won't eat vegetables, experiment with dips. My son tried his first vegetable when I served her a thinly cut carrot with some ranch salad dressing. My children also like hummus, salsa, and yogurt-based dressing.

We make home made pizzas! I make the bases & tomato sauce from scratch & they decorate them however they want but it can't just be cheese, cheese & more cheese! ;) Lots of different vegetables so they can make pretty patterns & some left over roast chicken or whatever we have in the fridge means there's less waste too!

Never had a problem getting my children to eat veg, but when I was a childminder there was a little girl who wouldn't eat veg at all. i used to cook her cottage pie and I would cook carrots, onions, courgettes and peas and blend them into the gravy - one way to get her 5 a day!