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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for my DD there is no arranging it cutely to make her eat it.

the thing that helps the most is her helping to cook the meal and having the veg in things like soups or stews where it is disguised.

She won't eat fruit.

We put fruit on yogurt/cereal for breakfast. We have a smoothie maker too so they like 'inventing' ones to try. They also love berries on ice cream for pudding. I'm lucky that my kids have never had an issue with eating fruit and veg.

I try to involve them in cooking most nights so they can choose which veg to have with dinner

Never really had to do it with my ds. Fruit and veg has always been part of his diet and he is quite used to it. Sometimes he can be tricky trying something new but we do the one bite rule and 8/10 he will eat the rest.

Sometimes he does like smoothies, or fruit lollies, smooth pasta sauce with lots of veg in etc. All can be good ways to get more fruit and veg into children.

My 4yo loves fruit. We let him choose. We tend to try and get different fruits so it not always the same. Fruits like strawberries and grapes, he sees as a treat.
We also have them on our treat breakfast like pancakes and bananas or make smoothies together. The other day we made a strawberry, honey and oat smoothie with cashew milk xxx

Also veg we tend to try and not do the same ones. The sweeter ones go down better - sweetcorn/corn on the cob, carrots and butrernut but he does love brocolli. Broccolli and cauliflpwer cheese crumble is favourite in our house and grilled asparagus 😍

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We just ask our boys to 'try' whatever is on their plate. Most of the time, when they have tried the food, they will then finish it.
We also make food fun where we can. For example we have running races before and after eating runner beans. They always run faster after they have eaten them

I have two boys and get them both snack boxes from chewymoon. theyre a kids snack box company (like graze) that provide healthy snacks for kids. they also send us stickers, a sticker book, battle cards (like top trumps) to add the fun element. It's ace! I don't have to do anything which is extremely handy as im far too knackered all the time

My DC are quite good with fruit/veg although DS1 seems to hate anything that could possibly have grown and be healthy! I offer a variety and try to buy in season so it tastes it's best. Stealth works best for DS1 so I do tend to add as much as I can to any sauces/stews/soups - if he can't see it, he'll eat it so the grated veg is a must!

Both fruit kebabs and smoothies have been very successful for getting them even more into fruits. As a bonus, putting fruit on a skewer also helps dexterity as does cutting up fruit for the smoothie (using safety knife, of course).

My DC are quite set in their ways of which fruit and veg they will eat. I keep trying to get them to try new fruits but always make sure there are plenty of the ones they like at home. With veg I use a mini chopper to help to hide them in pasta sauces or bolognese / shepherds pie to sneak them into their diet.

I don't do anything really. Both of mine love fruit and they like enough veggies for me not to worry. With veggies they aren't as keen on I just make sure to keep offering if we're having them and don't make a big deal if they don't want them, but encourage trying them

Cooking together - particularly pizzas with different veggie toppings

Freezing fruit & veg smoothies to make ice lollies

Using honey or melted chocolate for a fruit fondue

I don't have to try hard to get my kids to eat fruit as from a very young age they have been introduced to as many varieties of fruit as possible so there's not many they won't eat and I always have a full fruit bowl every day it has a mixed variety for them to pick from. I have also tried my beat with vegetables and as babies they eat anything that was pureed into baby food however now they're older it is more of a challenge and my 9 yr old is what I call veggie fussy she only eats tinned baby carrots and sweet corn so even if she is having a pizza I cook corn on the cob as a side dish and if we are eating casseroles I pour a whole tin of her favourite carrots into the slow cooker my 12 yr old eats almost every vegetable there is because she is a mini version of me so isn't a fussy eater, it's nice to see her eat a healthy meal as she is in secondary school and making some bad food choices at lunchtime. The 9 yr old has packed lunch so i add a smoothie and an apple every day and I cook them a dinner at home to make sure they're getting as much of the 5 a day as possible

I’ve just given dd fruit and veg as the main part of her meal since 6 months. She obviously has proteins and fats (and gallons of breastmilk still!) so hopefully I don’t need to get to the point to make them fun for her to eat them.

When they were really small I'd do the usual, I'm afraid. Hide it in food they like. Though when they were little I used to make burgers with pureed red onion, fennel and spinach in them. The spinach used to turn the bruger green so I called them dragon burgers, and if there was ever romanesco in the shops, serve dragon spines alongside it. Those went down well with DC and with all their mates.

Pizza and pasta toppings always had peppers, onions and courgettes blended in with the tomato.

But once they were older, I just explained why they needed food from each food group and got them to choose.

They're teens now, but I do still mince mushrooms, celery and courgette very finely to sneak into spag bol along with the now acceptable chunks of peppers and onions though. Can't help myself.

turn them into the latest tech. my retro mobile brioche with blueberries

Make a fruit and veg platter, they love it. Everything chopped up and arranged nicely.

My children view fruit as a treat! They see a bowl of cherry tomatoes like they would bee a bag of haribo. I've always been super positive about both fruit and vegetables and how by eating them they have healthy super strong bodies.

Now they are older I let them prepare their own fruit and veg i.e. Cut top of carrot, cut up grapes - they enjoy this.

My DDs aren't huge fans of cooked veg (with the exception of cauliflower and broccoli cheese) but they will eat lots of salad and crudites.

I put out lots of small bowls so that they can just help themselves. They will quite happily pick at carrot sticks, mini corn, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes etc.

I also hide veg in stuff. Finely chopped carrots, onions and celery in bolognaise or cottage pie for example.

I eat lots of fruit and veg in front of my children, always have and it really entices them to try a different vegetable or fruit. With my youngest I find that if he's particularly hungry he will eat everything on his plate without looking, then asked what he's had!! This is very handy for getting vegetables into him!! They all like eggs so I make crustless mini quiches in muffin tins and pack in what veg I can, as well as huge omelettes or tortillas, again with loads of chopped vegetables.

Not sure about making food ‘fun’ but I did buy some edible eyeball stickers and attacked the fruit bowl one evening (even the grapes).

We emphasise the benefits and get her involved in choosing, preparing and cooking. My dd is less likely to eat fruit or veg that she’s unfamiliar with so it’s all about getting to know a range of produce.

serve them as a norm.stop making them have to be fun!! they are food,good food.
a side of broccoli just as it is without needing to be called "trees".
start from the very beginning with as little playing fruit and veg up as possible.they shoulkdnt bee seen as any diferent to carbs and protein parts of the meal. be the parent tell them to eat them.
of course there will be exceptions to this rule.but don't give in and start making funny faces.keep going for a bit.get a bit ancy and tell them they have to.tell them how brilliant they are for the body.
only then will we go to other tactics.
I think the modern world has put far to much on fruit and veg as needing to be more than that they are.and this panders to kids who look to parents/adults for how they view things.
this has been done throughout our family and we love veg.love a plain old bowl of carrots and peas.all veg is good.and that because we were forced or coddled into it.it just was part of our meals.