Please tell us your ideas for getting children to eat more fruit - you could win £250 in supermarket vouchers

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

Do your children like fruit? Do they eat all sorts - or just the regulation daily banana?

ZESPRI Kiwifruit would love to hear your ideas for getting children to eat more fruit - whether your kids only just manage their five a day or are such fruit fiends, they could tell a kiwi from a kumquat at 40 paces.

Everyone who sends in an idea, tip or suggestion will be entered into a prize draw to win £250 in vouchers for a supermarket of their choice.*

Please note that your tips may be published on Mumsnet at a later date.

Thanks and good luck! MNHQ

*Participating supermarkets include Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrison, M&S and Waitrose

i can't believe that name is already taken

My children eat a wide variety of fruit on a daily basis. They do this because thats all there is to snack on between meals. I don't provide anything else. The fruit bowls are always burtsing and the fridge is full of melon and berries. It is all in reach of the kids.

Mine don't need the encouragement they devour any fruit in sight. I tried leaving the fruit bowl on the table again the other day only for ds3 (2) to polish off 3 plums, a nectarine, banana and a vineload of grapes. This was after mid-morning snack. When I could only shop once a week I used to have to ration them so it would see us through the week.

I mostly followed BLW and fruit was a convenient food which they helped themselves to from an early age. I also encouraged them by buying exotic fruits especially when we see something new in the shop. Taking them to PYO farms and growing our own, which they loved, probably also helped.

Chocolate raisins.

dont bother
they will eat when peer pressure kicks in

I tell them it's mummy's special treat and suddenly it is irresistible to them

use this for everything tbh and works well

give it from birth
don't give sweets
kids should love fruit ...

don't get this thread - could understand it if it were veg

Have no biscuits in the house, leave it out when they are watching TV and they just snack without thinking about it.

Devonsmummy - sorry to be a fun-killer, but please be really careful playing any eating games with grapes... we have an acquaintance whose DS was permanently brain damaged after a grape stuck in his throat He wasn't a baby/toddler either - was 5 or 6 at the time.

Grape sucking doesn't sound safe....

My DS age 5 still thinks bags of dried apricots, boxes of raisins, and dried fruit bars are 'sweets' as this is how they were presented to him from an early age.

Pu a bowl of chopped fruit in front of your child wordlessly as they are watching television - my DS will eat his usual favourites this way (eg apples and bananas) as well as fruit he likes but pretends he doesn't (eg satsumas).

Tesco sell bags of fruit with buzz lightyear on - you only need to buy the bag of buzz fruit once, just keep the bag - any toy story fan will then be encouraged to eat it like my DS.

I just add fruit to everything. They have it on the side of lunch, dinner, breakfast. They make kebabs with fruit and dip it in yoghurt. From as soon as I have weaned fruit has been a major part of all their diets. My 12mth old is currently crawling around eating a full apple. I make sure that fruit is accessible to them at all times and also letting them chop any fruit themselves with plastic knives.
My Ds isnt fussy on dried fruit but the girls love it and I give it to them as a 'treat'

fruit salad for pudding all the different colours make it really fun and interesting for a 3 yr old.

fruit salad for pudding all the different colours make it really fun and interesting for a 3 yr old.

I have 3 ds and all eat lots of fruit.

However the trick to keep the fruit dish empty is to put out only 2 pieces of each fruit they eat it so the 3rd child misses out ......and then the 3rd child that misses out is the first to raid the fruit dish....been going on for 10 years so far .

Give them dried fruit and tell them it's sweets.

Tell them to leave the fruitbowl alone.....red rag and bull springs to mind as they furtively sneak fruit out when they think I'm not looking

melt some choc in a bowl cut up a selection of fruit and let them dip it in

let them make their own fruit kebabs

not sure if this has been suggested above but mine love to go to pick your own farms and munch as they pick - not sure i coudl really recommend it on moral grounds but you did ask!

My 14 month old DS loves to play the sharing the apple/pear/banana/whatever game. I take a bite and pass it to him, then he takes a bite and passes it back, then I take a bite, he takes a bite etc etc

He will also eat any fruit going if it's mixed with plain yoghurt.

I wizz up fruit with creamy yoghurt and make it into ice lollys, its just like ice cream to them but its 90% fruit.

Also my kids will eat anything they have got from a PYO!

They have unlimited acsess to the Fruit bowl which is always full also try to potate what i buy and add in some more exotic fruits.

I also got a really funky Apple/Pear slicer/corer from Tesco for £3 its really east yo chop an Apple or Pear into wedges and remove the core, my 3 year old calls my Pear zoomer.... and really who doesnt like a Zoomed Pear?

My kids will also rather eat frut pieces if there is a fruit puree to dip it in or Custard.

Starting early, put it on their plates, and offer it as the only option for snack times.

I aldo do a Jamie Oliver and whizz up dried apricots or pineapple then spread it onto a tray and bake it really low for a long time then cut into stars... voila Fruit Gums! (i also put them in the white pick'n'mix bags.

OK well I asked dd this as she is a top fruit eater.
She said, 'Tell them if they eat more fruit they'll get a sweet. But trick them and don't really give them the sweet.'

I make child friendly pimms with squash, sparkling water, ice, and sliced/chopped fruit on a straw with a plate of extra fruit to 'dunk' plus a spoon for rescuing droppers.
Grapes, kiwi, melon, pineapple, mango all work brilliantly. DH misunderstood and put in lemon once but that went down as well

DS (3) will eat fruit over sweets (I kid you not).

My top tips are:

• chop it up.
• don't give too much at once.
• give it before a meal rather than at the end. DS will eat a handful of grapes before his sandwich rather than after the sandwich.
• introduce fresh fruit as soon as possible. I weaned DS on fresh fruit and veg and got him used to the taste.