How do you make fruit and veg fun to help your children reach their five a day? Share your ideas with Change4Life for a chance to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[EllieMumsnet]

We all know that fruit or veg is the healthiest option, but it can sometimes be tricky to get your children eating their 5 a day. With that in mind, Change4Life would like to hear about the ways you make fruit and veg fun so your children happily tuck in to the fruit and veg on offer.

Whether you arrange fruit and veg into faces, create fruit kebabs or have other creative ways to make fruit and veg fun - share your tips and ideas below.

Feel free to share images of your creations if you have any!

All who leave a comment below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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We have fruit faces on porridge and recently we found a recipe in a supermarket magazine for fruit 'pizza' which is now thankfully a favourite! Carrot sticks aren't a problem but I do have difficulty getting mine to eat a lot of veg so I've picked up some good ideas on this thread

I weaned on a selection of blended fruit and vegetables, banana mixed with fromage frais, pureed carrot and sweet potato, if a taste was disliked and offered it mixed with a fruit/veg that he had liked in the past. When he was able to chew, I offered chopped yellow and red pepper, carrot sticks and apple pieces. We still have some tastes he won't entertain, but I won' t pressure, just try the food later. I have a good eater with a balanced diet which I am really pleased about.

We try and make vegetables fun by laying them out on the plate in rainbow colours, or trying to make pictures with them. We also try and eat unusual vegetables and fruits, or mix things up. Even I get bored of broccoli and carrots everyday!

When making things like spaghetti bolognese or lasagna, I grate in carrots and courgette to bulk out the meat and ensure we're getting plenty of vegetables in our diet.

We also have a vegetable patch and grow our own. The kids love this, especially picking the fruits and vegetables - this definitely encourages them to eat more!

Cutting them up into small chunks always works - and if they've eaten their fruit and veggies, they're allowed a small treat at the end of the day.

Ds doesn't eat fruit or vegetables. He is 2 years 7 months and it is really difficult. Smoothies worked for a while but he won't drink now, at play group he just eats the bread sticks and doesn't copy his friends eating chunks of pear. He doesn't eat the tin of tangerines in a sugar free jelly. He rejects peas with his fish fingers and won't eat raw carrot, carrot cooked in circles or sticks or mashed with swede and the only potatoes he likes are chipped.
But, we went to Tesco at Christmas time and he saw the free fruit, he wanted an apple. He ate the whole thing, we had to take the core off him! Since then he has an apple most days. I still put veg on his plate, every meal. He mashes up banana's to make muffins but won't eat the muffin and I see it as a bonus if he eats a strawberry that has been dipped in a chocolate fountain.
Watching him eat an apple gives me such a good feeling. Kids can be difficult and sometimes all the best advice in the world doesn't work.

we make fruit smoothies, which is a great way to get all the goodness from various different fruits that we wouldn't normally eat. Also before anything chocolatey my DD has to have a piece of fruit first.

I'm lucky by mine all love fruit and veg!!

I never had a problem with my older children - they adored fruit and vegetables and pretty much ate everything! middle child and youngest one not so good. I have bought one of those nutri ninjas - they now make smoothies with so many (hidden veggies) different ingredients - they are definitely getting their 5 a day!!

I dont do anything fancy, i just make sure we always have various fruits available and offer plenty. Vegetable wise i make sure every meal has some and we try lots of new ceg and make it fun to have different types. I also buy smoothie that are classed as one of the 5 a day to keep topped up.

I make sure they see the adults in their lives eating lots of fruit!

So if I give them a banana for their lunch, then I have one too.

They are much more likely to give it a go if they see their favourite grown up eating it!

my kids love smoothie roulette by mixing the fruit we don't know what it will taste like so they love finding out. Although we've had some awful ones so it causes fits of giggles as they get the courage up to taste it !!

They also love ice cube fruit lollipops made in a 99p car and bus shaped ice cube tray and non sharp cocktail sticks as handles. Easy to make and gets them to eat as much fruit as they want with no added sugar like in lolly ices.

I try not to make a fuss in front of them. I eat plenty of fruit and veg in front of them and i also blend some veg into meals

It's just always been part of their daily diet. Lots of raw fruit and veg as finger foods to snack on as a treat and cooked vweg on their dinners. I encourage them to eat a little bit of everything and I'm enthusiastic about how yummy it all is. Usually, they just copy.

I think not making a big deal about vegetables and fruit help. Although not my children, I take regular care of my sisters and they’ve always eaten “good” food and don’t know any different. They think raisins, grapes and strawberries are treats. Getting them to help chop and prepare healthy snacks also helps, making it treat food from the beginning can make a huge difference.

Letting the kids prepare fruits themselves often gets them eating more... just letting when chop it or wash it even. Fruit skewers are always fun and easy to make but ensuring its always available.

We like to shop for new fruits and vegetables. I let my son pick the funniest shaped ones and the colours he likes, he is quite happy to try new things when HE has picked them.

Small pieces. It always makes me laugh but I've found with mine that if you offer them an apple, for example, they'll turn you down. Cut it into small pieces and add maybe strawberries as well and they'll eat it happily. So I serve fruit and raw veg cut into small pieces. Can't make it work with cooked veg though so there are limits!

I think the main thing is setting a good example and to keep on trying. Both of mine have gone through fussy times where they refuse a few things, but I keep giving them little bits of it and softly encourage them to try, and they will eventually. They both love fruit and most veg!

By making them into fun shapes and patterns. I also hide a lot of veg in meals.

Make a colour pattern on plate and talk about them. Why not? We feed them its up to us do it properly.

My children always enjoyed fruit more than veg. So, I would make "crunchy salad" which they loved ... roughly chopped salad (the usual stuff) with added fruit such as grapes, kiwi, sultanas, blueberries.

We have veg with every meal and they are encouraged to attend east try it. We had got into a habit of always having fruit as a snack when writing get home....so nothing fancy☺

We try lots of different things and kids encouraged to get involved in preparing own snacks and meals. Chop up into interesting shapes so it's fun.
Dr Ranj also helpful in the 'poo episode' as he encourages eating your veg to help your poo!! Gets quoted on occasion.

I try and get the kids to try lots of different fruit and veg, which means occasionally they latch onto something and will eat as much as I can buy. Latest favourite was 'percinnamon' (persimmon) which my six year old loves.

I let them pick what they want in the supermarket.

Dd always goes for sugar snap peas and dd likes blueberries and grapes. They sometimes get a choice of what veg to cook at dinner time and go for corn on the cob, squeaky beans (green) and carrots.

They get two types of fruit in lunch boxes, chopped or peeled for easy eating

After school snack is fruit so I keep the fruit bowl on the island so they can reach it.

Pudding here is fruit too, so something like a bowl of melon or mango goes down well. Ds likes yoghurt in his.

I add veg into things like spaghetti bolognaise and make soup - their favourite is sweet potato and I add carrots and celery

I don’t manage 5 a day every day but we do our best.