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've never had an issue with fruit and veg, I know we are very lucky in that respect.

We sometimes do chocolate fondue with pieces of fruit, marshmallows and a little pot of melted chocolate each.

We let them choose what fruit and veg to buy too, as their tastes change and they will eat every grape in sight for weeks and then start devouring apples instead, asking them saves waste. They get to choose lunch box and snack fruit, and veg to go with meals (eg if I was making pea and broccoli soup I would obviously buy those, but they could choose what veg they got for with lunch) providing they choose a variety each week not just 3 bags of apples or something

Not made fun tbh - just always there
Veg was simply there with meals or in meals and that was it
Best thing for us was that just ate together in evenings not doing separate meals at all. They got blended or mashed of whatever we had. My line now they are older is 'I am not a short order chef'
Fruit - what's on offer was bought and available until they developed preferences like Granny Smiths for apples etc.

We like to make fruit kebabs and veg kebabs. In the summer we cook both on the BBQ and the children love it.

I keep a well-stocked fruit bowl which is fair game for helping yourself. Plastic box of crudités in the fridge for snacking and plenty of vegetables with meals.

Not really fun but they’ll eat anything blended! So all sorts of smooth soup and sauces with veg in. Just vary what goes with it.
Getting them involved in the cooking is another way.

I usually let them serve themselves from the pans which seems to help...we cook together often which leads to them tasting things as they go along. If in a supermarket I encourage them to choose a fruit or vegetable for the trolley to try. I aim to offer fruit or veg as a snack or at least the first bit of a snack if they are hungry to try to train their brain to crave these kind of foods when hungriest. Sometimes we make things like fruit kebabs or pizzas with faces of veg. the gruffalo cook book is a good one for ideas.

We grow our own fruit and veg, children love to watch them grow fro small plants to real food you can pick,cook and then eat

I’ve never hid veg- it’s always been a part of their meals and normal to eat.
My son when he learn that we should eat 10 portions a day made his own competition at home to see who can eat the most variety and now at 11 and 8 years old they have up to 15 different varies every day.

My boys love it if I make a plate up of chopped fruit and give them kebab sticks to make fruit skewers, they tend to eat a wide variety of fruit that way

Sometimes by just offering certain snacks - so giving a choice of carrots sticks, strawberries or apples.
Most meals have veg incorporated somehow and as we've done this forever it's just a natural meal for my 4yo. She loves Brussels and broccoli.
I let her pick what she wants on her weetabix or in her porridge, so a handful of chopped strawberries, or raspberries or blueberries.

We grow our own fruit and veg, and make soup in winter/salad in summer. Presentation is everything - and taste... we explore taste and find describing words that match like sweet, crunchy, zingy.

Simple, our 4 year old loves fruit and veg. Her favourites are sprouts and cabbage. We've never made a big fuss about giving her fruit and veg, and she's never made a fuss about eating it. she has always sat with us to eat her meals and appears to copy what we do; we love F&V. We have told her that her food helps her to grow and become strong, gives her lots of energy and has vitamins and minerals for her body. She understands the benefits, even at age 4.

We make rice cakes faces using veg as the features on the face. For seasonal variations we make rice cake snowmen, Easter bunnies, etc.

I find that fruit that is normally rejected (bananas) will get eaten in a fruit salad.

We put grated, mashed or pureed veg in pancake mixture to give a bit of a veg boost. Its fun to see what colour they end up. Beetroot = pink pancakes, red cabbage = purple pancakes and squash/carrot = orange and spinach/kale = green.

I don’t make it fun We just eat it!

We do sometimes do bear faces with banana slices and so forth on porridge, but basically we just model reasonable habits.

I am lucky; my DD & DS have always enjoyed fruit in particular & would choose fruit over sweets - but not chocolate! ;)
They have always enjoyed the variety of fruit that we are lucky enough to enjoy these days (my DD was drawn to dragonfruit when she first saw them in the supermarket) &, now they are older, they are good at ensuring that they choose a range of colours of food when choosing a meal at school, for instance.
I often pair different coloured fruits (strawberries & blueberries, bananas & kiwi, etc.) which adds interest & increases nutrition.
Vegetables have been a little trickier, but if we were trying a 'new' or less favoured one, we would do the 'mix of veg' trick & gradually keep introducing the less popular veg. I can't actually think of any veg that they would refuse now; it's been about finding a way of cooking or preparing them that they prefer.
I can say one thing: they DON'T like the overcooked veg of my childhood..!

A class of 6 year olds learnt about Arcimboldo's fruit and veg portraits. Then they brought in fruit and veg and designed their own portraits. Then they enjoyed eating them!

I'd say no your enemy.
For example Brussels or cabbage I know will not go well with my lot so we stick to the veg we know they like broc green beans peas carrots.
Then I feel I'm not fighting with them.
When it comes to fruit they tend to go with grapes strawberry mango rather than the usual banana orange ECT.

Never made fruit and veg into anything other than it was - delicious and healthy food that we are incredibly lucky to have such wide access to.

Never in man's history have we had such incredible access to fresh fruit and vegetables at all times of the year and yet so many eat so badly.

I led by example rather than gimmick and both mine eat a broad range of fruit and veg now too. When DS went through a restrictive phase as a toddler, I just blended veg into stews & bolognaise until the phase passed and he started eating them undisguised again.

I draw happy funny faces on bananas and oranges 😆

letting kids choose from a selection of cut up fruit, veg, bread, etc laid out deli style is always good.... if they want a snack e.g. toast they only get it if they have it with fruit or some crudites on the side that they eat.

also serve veggies at the start of the meal when they are hungry! before you serve the main meal... helps them to get some down.

I prepare dishes of cut up fruit and veg provided throughout the day - my dc are a bit lazy when it comes to peeling their own fruit but will eat it when cut up and on presented on a plate. Sometimes we add yoghurt to it but nothing else. We also make smoothies - sometimes if we're having an otherwise not so healthy dinner, we add a smoothie on the side to get a daily veg boost.

Mine have always loved their fruit and veg- when they were very small a bit of creation with meals was always good fun - and they loved to join in. A favourite was always the melon hedgehog!.....and I must admit to making this for them even now!- They still love it!! :)

Got mine to help cooking vegetables/ making salad from a very early age.